Metropolitan Community Health Services is preparing to open a second health clinic in the region.

A grand-opening celebration for the Agape Community Health Clinic-Williamston is scheduled for noon in Williamston. The clinic, which is free or charges fees based on a patient’s income, is located at 1130 Godwin Drive in the Martin County town.

Metropolitan Community Health Services has its headquarters in Washington, where it opened its first Agape Community Health Clinic several years ago. It includes a dental clinic. Metropolitan Housing and CDC began offering health services in 1998. A year later, Metropolitan Community Health Services was incorporated as a nonprofit entity.

The Williamston clinic will serve the Martin-Tyrrell-Washington Health District and neighboring counties. It has 12 examination rooms, eight rooms for dental services and an in-house, full-service pharmacy. The clinic was funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration.

The Williamston clinic mimics the one in Washington, according to Fashikie E. Smith with Metropolitan Community Health Services.

“It’s the same operation; the same setup,” Smith said Wednesday.

It will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, Smith said. One day of the week will be selected to be an extended day, serving patients for more hours that day. The specific day for those extended hours has not yet been determined, Smith noted.

“The impact on the community will be enormous in medical, social and economic areas,” said Williamston Mayor Tommy Roberson.

The mayor, U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield and the Rev. David L. Moore, CEO of Metropolitan Community Health Services, as scheduled to speak at the grand-opening ceremony. That ceremony includes a ribbon-cutting event, tours of the clinic and light refreshments.

A news release issued by Metropolitan Community Health Services describes the clinic as a state-of-the-art facility.