Silver State Health, a nonprofit community health center, announced a merger to expand its mental health and primary care services.

Silver State Health acquired the counseling center formerly known as Bilingual Behavioral Services in an effort to provide medical and behavioral health care services to more low-income families at little or no cost.

The merger would make Silver State Health the largest bilingual health center in the city, according to Silver State Health Board of Directors president, Roosevelt Daymon.

“One of our primary focuses is on mental health,” Daymon said. “For us it was a no brainer since we focus on mental health to merge with them to make our business better.”

Silver State Health is one of only five Federally Qualified Health Centers in Nevada, said Daymon. As a federally funded organization, one of their mandates is to assist the underserved and unserved populations in Las Vegas.

“We all want to give back and so part of giving back is finding what the community needs most, and right now the greatest need we found was primary care and mental health,” Daymon said.

The center provides medical and behavioral health, including transportation to the clinic, regardless of immigration status.

“We’re going to go out and help the underserved the elderly, undocumented, whatever it doesn’t matter,” Daymon said. “We’re still going to help you.”

The event featured an official ribbon-cutting ceremony, food and a community fair where several other non-profit organizations provided information and free medical screenings.