A vacant fast-food lot on North Barron Street in Eaton is about to become Preble County's first community health center, after Primary Health Solutions broke ground on the project last Wednesday. The roughly 6,400-square-foot facility will offer primary care, dental services and behavioral health care, with doors expected to open in early summer 2027.
The site has sat empty since Preble County's only Frisch's Big Boy closed there in December 2024, according to WHIO. Now that same property at 1204 N. Barron St. is being redeveloped into what city, county and community leaders described as a long-awaited healthcare asset, joining Primary Health Solutions representatives for the ceremonial groundbreaking, as reported by the Register-Herald. Stephen Roller, president and CEO of Primary Health Solutions, said the project is about creating greater access to care for people in Preble County, pointing to barriers from transportation, cost, availability and the need to travel outside the community for basic services.
A County Without a Health Center, Finally Closing the Gap
Preble County has been one of the few Ohio counties without a federally qualified health center, and the numbers behind that gap are stark. Per the same account, Preble County has roughly one mental health provider for every 1,100 residents, compared with about one for every 350 residents statewide. The county also has around one dental provider for every 5,830 residents against Ohio's one-per-1,507 average, and just one primary care provider for every 6,810 residents compared to the state's one-per-1,290 ratio.
Julie DiRossi-King, president and CEO of the Ohio Association of Community Health Centers, said the Eaton facility will provide care closer to home for residents who have long had to leave the county for routine treatment. Ohio currently has 61 community health centers operating roughly 650 locations statewide, serving more than 1 million Ohioans and recording more than 4.3 million patient visits in 2025. Before the Eaton project, those centers had a physical presence in 76 of Ohio's 88 counties — meaning Preble County will now be added to that list.
Building on Existing School and Behavioral Health Partnerships
The physical building is arriving after groundwork that was already underway. Primary Health Solutions has brought South Community Behavioral Health into its operations, and providers from that organization already serve students in Eaton and Twin Valley South schools, the report notes. The organization's acquisition of the Moraine-based behavioral health provider was finalized on July 1, 2026, folding mental health services directly into its primary care framework, according to Becker's Behavioral Health.
Justin Sommer, economic development director of the Preble County Development Partnership, was among those marking the groundbreaking. Primary Health Solutions plans to expand behavioral health services in the county further, including both school-based and community-based care, building on the relationships South Community providers already established with local students. Sommer said the organization sought meetings with existing local providers early in the development process. Project discussions began roughly a year and a half before the groundbreaking.
Part of a Broader Regional Expansion
The Eaton project isn't happening in isolation. Primary Health Solutions has also expanded services in Oxford, broken ground on another health center in Hamilton, and is expanding pharmacy services across Butler and Montgomery counties. As a federally qualified health center under Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act, Primary Health Solutions is required to treat all residents regardless of insurance status and offer sliding-fee scales tied to federal poverty guidelines, according to its own accreditation materials. Uninsured patients earning under 200% of the federal poverty line pay reduced nominal charges for medical and dental care under those guidelines, per the Black Health clinic directory.
Preble County's designation by the Health Resources and Services Administration as a federal Health Professional Shortage Area for both primary care and mental health services, as recorded in the Federal Register, helps explain why the county has lagged behind the rest of the state on access. Roller said the project will transform a former vacant building into a community asset, and noted that Primary Health Solutions was awarded an Ohio Department of Health grant to expand rural dental access in Preble County.
What Comes Next
Primary Health Solutions traces its roots back to 1999, when it was founded as the Butler County Community Health Consortium before earning full federally qualified health center status in 2007 and rebranding under its current name in 2010, according to the organization's own history. Today the network spans 15 locations across Southwest Ohio, delivering medical, dental, behavioral and pharmacy services to more than 40,000 patients annually, per Simplify Jobs.
For now, the Eaton site remains a construction project rather than a working clinic, with an opening date still roughly eight months away. Roller said the real milestone will come when the center actually opens and patients start receiving care inside it.
