Melissa Torres talks about how a local creek inspired the organization’s name and how she wound up working there.
Story by Eileen Daniel-Denmark
Photos by Sage Russell
Melissa Torres, CEO of Contentnea Health, said she took a leap of faith when she moved from Puerto Rico to the U.S. with her husband, Felix, who had gotten a civilian job at the Marine Corp Air Station Cherry Point base in 2012.
“I ended up in healthcare by chance,” she said.
Torres had graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and human resources from American University in Puerto Rico, and obtained a master’s degree in global management from the Puerto Rico campus of the University of Phoenix. After arriving in North Carolina, she taught Spanish at Pamlico Community College after working briefly as a drivers license examiner and as a volunteer working with GED students.
When she landed a job at a clinic in Alliance, it was still known as Greene County Health. That was 15 years ago, just two years after the company purchased Pamlico Pediatrics from Dr. Sue Lee. A new clinic was built a mile down the road from the former pediatric practice, now Mayo’s restaurant. It opened at 313 Main Street in Bayboro in 2014.
But the 53-year history of Contentnea Health originates in the 1960s in Walstonburg, North Carolina, where local leaders and a group of physicians from neighboring Wilson recognized an urgent need for medical care after the area’s only practicing physician retired. The Walstonburg Community Health Center opened in 1973, eventually becoming Greene County Health.
Torres says the decision to rename Greene County Health stemmed from the confusion caused by the name after clinics opened in Pitt and Pamlico counties.
“Patients would say what is Greene County doing in Pamlico,” she said. “They always confused us with the health department. Patients were showing up in both places.”
In 2023, Greene County was renamed Contentnea, after the creek that connects the counties of eastern North Carolina. The waters of Contentnea Creek flow 91 miles from the Buckthorn Reservoir into the Neuse River.
“It is a beautiful parallel in the path of the creek and the path of growth of the organization,” Torres said. “The idea is born in the same place as the creek is born. … It flows into the Neuse, which touches everything in eastern North Carolina.”
While living in Craven County with her husband and three children and working in Pamlico, Torres said she ended up falling in love with the area.
There was also another impact. “It opened my eyes to the healthcare needs of the community,” she said. “I appreciate that’s where I began. You get a real feeling of what it is like to live in a medical desert.”
Torres explained that, “working nonprofit in healthcare, there is no other option but to care.”
She wants county residents to know Contentnea Health Pamlico is a great option for their healthcare, with highly trained physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants on site and additional specialists accessible via telehealth in their other locations.
“For people who work, who have insurance, they can go to the private sector and pay more,” she said. “But they may also choose a mission-driven organization like Contentnea.”
As a federally qualified health center, the clinic receives federal funding, enabling it to offer patients care on a sliding scale of fees.
Torres said people often don’t realize they may be able to take advantage of lower fees regardless of whether they have insurance. “There are only two qualifiers, household income and size,” she said. The less people make, the higher the discount.
According to KFF, an organization that studies health policy nationally, federal subsidies have not kept pace with the rising costs of healthcare. Torres agreed, noting Contentnea has not experienced a reduction in federal funds, but it also has not seen an increase in the last 10 years. It holds the line on increasing fees for patients.
“My cost of operating has gone up 30% and my cost for medical supplies has gone up 30% so we do operate on a tighter margin,” she said.
Case managers help patients with their care
“We understand that navigating the healthcare system is very complex,” Torres said, explaining that case management takes a holistic approach to the patient’s well-being. “Our case manager is connecting with patients as they visit, asking ‘what do you need and how can I help?’”
Standard questions about medical history and current medications could be coupled with questions that aim to uncover what a patient might be missing at home, to assess needs within and outside of healthcare, including for food or social services.
“We have patients who need a wheelchair or a walker and we connect them to those services,” Torres said.
Primary care and medication
The bread and butter of Contentnea’s primary care includes the diagnosis and treatment of chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and issues with cholesterol. Blood samples taken on site are sent to LabCorp for analysis.
The center also offers routine physical exams, vaccines, Pap smears, sick care and minor surgical stitching. A dietician and a nutritionist are available via telehealth. Plus, Torres said, there is same day access. “When you’re sick, you need a visit today,” she said.
Contentnea takes part in a federal program that allows qualified entities in rural areas to buy medications at a reduced price. Torres wants prospective patients to know it can be a significant benefit to use the Contentnea in-house pharmacy. “For our uninsured patients, we pass along 100% of the savings minus a small administrative fee,” she said.
Using the cost of $500 for insulin as an example, Torres said Contentnea might be able to get it to the patient’s home for $55, with no cost for delivery.
For patients who prefer to get their medications from local pharmacies, Walmart and Realo are under contract with Contentnea to provide medications at a reduced price. Torres said it could save patients a lot of money.
Co-located services
Contentnea has a long history of providing oral health and dental care. Dr. Rob Doherty, dental director at the Snow Hill clinic, has spent the bulk of his career in community health, primarily treating patients at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.
He said he is proud of Contentnea’s commitment to adding dentists so the group can continue to provide quality dental care. Giving people their smiles back, Doherty said, “fills that part of me that wants to help.”
The Contentnea clinic in Bayboro has two dental exam rooms but appointments were limited because it had only a rotating staff of part-time dentists.
That changed when Dr. Victoria Crane-Smith, a dental school graduate from the University of Kentucky, joined full-time in late 2025. Now it can accommodate up to 15 dental patients and nine hygienist patients a day, Monday through Thursday.
Combining primary care and dental care in a single location is a big benefit. Torres said it is not uncommon for a medical doctor to reach out to a dentist and vice versa.
Taking a patient’s blood pressure is not routine in most dental practices, but it is at Contentnea. If a blood pressure reading is abnormally high, the dentist can quickly get the patient over to the medical team. “It is one of the beauties of having both together in one clinic,” Torres said.
Behavioral health
Helping patients navigate their mental health issues is another medical priority highlighted by Torres. “Even (physically) healthy people can benefit from mental health services,” she said.
A family therapist is on site in Bayboro every Tuesday and Wednesday, offering services that span a broad spectrum of diagnoses, including depression and anxiety.
Contentnea also offers medication-assisted treatment for substance and opioid dependencies. These disorders often carry a stigma, but providers aim to treat patients without judgment. “It is not a moral weakness but a treatable chronic disease,” Torres said.
Via telehealth services that started during the pandemic, the clinic’s local therapist connects patients with Contentnea’s psychiatric nurse practitioner at the clinic in Greene County. There is the added benefit of discretion. “In our program, we shift from blame and shame to healing and recovery,” Torres said.
Outreach
Torres is excited about Contentnea’s social media presence. “We use a combination of methods,” she said, including Facebook campaigns that target specific populations in the county. “So our ads come up when they are scrolling.”
Contentnea’s information videos on Instagram and TikTok are popular, Torres said. “We have a very fun TikTok page; it is the most common way we connect to patients,” she said. “We understand what attracts people is the things that entertain them, so we try to get them to follow our social media.”
It also sends postcards to former patients to let them know about new services. “There is a beauty,” she said, “in mixing modern with the old fashioned.
Laughing, Torres offered an example about getting her first job at Contentnea, as an outreach and enrollment specialist. “I got the entry level job from the classified section of the County Compass. … I mailed in my resume,” she said.
The Torreses currently live in Havelock. Their three children attended Arapahoe Charter School and are now grown.
Torres said she would trust her care with Contentnea any day of the week. “We are here to serve the community,” she said. “That is our sole purpose … to serve.”
