The La Pine Community Health Center has laid off an undetermined number of workers in the wake of uncertainty of federal funding that supports its work.

The health center on Wednesday laid off 11% of its staff, a few of whom volunteered to leave, according to an email statement by Erin Trapp, community health center CEO.

The health center said in a written statement that it needed to make cuts to protect the operations given the federal funding instability. The center receives $637,178 in federal funding from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.

Despite last week’s President Donald Trump’s administration memo instructing all federal agencies to pause funding to grantees,  all contracts and grant work can continue and will get paid, according to a government spokesman. On Monday a federal judge in Washington, D.C. issued a temporary restraining order blocking the freeze.

“While many community health centers across the nation are closing their doors in response to issues accessing federal funds, the La Pine Community Health Center is working to preserve services to avoid interruption to care for its patients,” Trapp said in a prepared statement. “We will do everything we can to keep our patients from experiencing the effects of the federal funding freeze. We believe this will be a temporary change and plan to restore our workforce soon.”

The La Pine community has two main health centers, including the community center and a clinic run by St. Charles Health System. Reliable, stable healthcare in the community plays a role in public health, but also in economic development.

“The facility provides excellent health care for residents in the region,” said Patricia Lucas, Sunriver La Pine Economic Development executive director. “I trust that the administration will do what is best to maintain the quality of care and operational efficiency of the facility.”

The La Pine Family Care Clinic patients should not see any changes to care or services, said Kayley Mendenhall, St. Charles Health Services vice president of strategic communications.

Meanwhile a $16 million expansion project for the La Pine Community Health Center is moving forward, said Courtney Ignazzitto, health center marketing and communications manager. Once complete, the three-story federally qualified health center will be 46,000 square feet and be able to offer an expanded slate of services, from mammograms to dental services.

The health center is considered a federally qualified facility, which receives funding from the federal government to help cover the cost of serving people who either don’t have insurance or whose benefits leave them with high out-of-pocket expenses.

The Oregon Health Authority says it is assessing the potential impact of any federal changes on Oregon health care organizations.

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, said a funding freeze is just creating chaos.

“Whipping up chaos, fear and confusion with lawless stunts like freezing funds already approved by Congress — and in many cases obligated to recipients such as health clinics — doesn’t help anybody in Central Oregon or anywhere else in our state and country,” Wyden said. “These performative and illegal schemes certainly are delaying contracts and could break contracts all together, ending up costing taxpayers more while hurting Oregonians seeking health care.”

According to publicly available tax filings for the nonprofit health center, it earned $12 million in revenue in 2023, $9.23 million in expenses for the same year.

Community health centers are located across the country and provide care to about 32.5 million people in underserved communities, according to a report by the National Association of Community Health Centers.