GWINN — The United States Department of Health and Human Services has awarded Upper Great Lakes Family Health Center in Gwinn a grant for $1 million.

The health center was one of ten medical facilities in the state to receive one of these grants, which will go towards renovating the current facility. Officials with UGL Family Health Center plan on adding a 2,500 square foot addition in the near future.

The grant will provide the health center with more space, new equipment and most importantly the ability to help more people.

“Upper Great Lakes Family Health Center in Gwinn has been in high need of this funding and we look forward to really putting it back in the community being able to serve our staff and our patients,” said administrative director Administrative Bur. “We’re going to be meeting next week with a contractor to go over some of the floor plans on what we want to do.”

“In this community it will be an amazing dream come true,” said board president Julie Shaw. “This community needs this. We need a boost. We need this positiveness in our community and we’ve always gotten amazing health care, but now it’s an opportunity to make that grow.”

Catherine Kroll is the center’s Chief Medical Officer. She’s been practicing medicine for the last thirty years.

Kroll has watched a lot of things change in the medical world right in Gwinn.

“When we came to Gwinn over 30 years ago we had a little, tiny space and there was three of us working. Now it’s this incredible organization,” said Kroll. “We want to have that full, total care of that patient and this is going to allow us to provide that care much more efficiently.”

The health center applied for the grant about a year ago. Upper Great Lakes Family Health Center is a Federally Qualified Health Center that provides primary care to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.