Sylvia Waters, a licensed practical nurse and Floyd resident, restocks a cabinet with sterile suture sets in a Floyd Community Health Center examination room. Dr. Lorrie French and licensed nurse practitioner Beth Hubbard see patients from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. They are assisted by office manager Tammy Frazier and nurses Waters and Shawn Kimble.

Dr. Lorrie French talks with patient Hope Thompson at the Floyd Community Health Center. Thompson became French's patient when the doctor worked at Mount Springs Family Clinic in Copper Hill, about 45 minutes down the road. When French moved, Thompson followed her.

Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

The 1,200-square-foot Floyd Community Health Center sits in front of the Jacksonville Center for the Arts in a building that once served as a dormitory for the art center's campers.

FLOYD -- Blink as you're driving on Locust Street and you might miss the Floyd Community Health Center.

The 1,200-square-foot clinic sits in front of the Jacksonville Center for the Arts in a building that once served as a dormitory for the art center's campers. Inside, it's just large enough to house three examination rooms, a waiting room, office space for five employees and an old bathroom-turned-mini-laboratory.

The intercom system consists of a yell down the hallway, joked Dr. Lorrie French, the sole physician.

But this location for the health center, which opened in March for low-income families in Floyd and Patrick counties, is temporary.

French expects the staff to move into a permanent home in 2009. The Laurel Fork Health Commission, the nonprofit that operates the center, is looking for land in the Floyd town limits to build a larger facility, she said. The commission is largely funded through federal grant money and offers low-income and uninsured people health care on a sliding-fee scale. It has operated the Tri-Area Health Clinic in Laurel Fork for 25 years and opened its first satellite office, the Ferrum Community Health Center, in 2007.

The need for its third community health center in Floyd was clear, commission's operations director Pat Moles said. Twenty percent of Floyd's residents are uninsured, according to a needs assessment report prepared by the commission.

Since March, the Floyd center has treated 150 patients, said office manager Tammy Frazier.

Although the center offers reduced-cost health care to those who qualify, "we see everybody," Frazier said.

Hope Thompson started using the center's services in May. She became French's patient when the doctor worked at Mount Springs Family Clinic in Copper Hill, about 45 minutes down the road. When French moved, Thompson followed her.

"I think she is really good at preventative care," Thompson said. "I think that's what people need, and just being located where she is is really great."

French sees patients for everything from medical and gynecological checkups to chronic disease management.

Before moving to Floyd three years ago, French worked as an obstetrician and gynecologist in Jacksonville, Fla.

"It was a surgical field and I was in the operating room all the time. ... That part I don't miss at all," she said.

When she heard that a branch of the Laurel Fork clinic might open in Floyd, French said she jumped at the job opportunity.

French and licensed nurse practitioner Beth Hubbard see patients from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. They are assisted by Frazier and nurses Sylvia Waters and Shawn Kimble.

The staff is usually able to offer same-day appointments, though no after-hours care is available, French said.

She said her goal for the permanent facility is to have more examination rooms and a staff large enough to offer after-hours care.

Right now, French said she is simply focused on getting the word out about the clinic.

French said she is alarmed when she finds out how long it's been since some of her patients have seen a doctor.

"We're seeing patients who haven't had care for two, three and upwards years," French said.

Some simply couldn't afford it before, she said.