Community Health Education and Resources (CHER), a division of the Spokane-based nonprofit Inland Northwest Health Services, says it has leased 3,400 square feet of medical office space in the University District and plans to consolidate its diabetes education and counseling programs there this month.

The CHER Diabetes Education Center will be open on the second floor of the Riverpoint One Building, at 501 N. Riverpoint Blvd. near downtown, on June 21, says Jennifer Polello, CHER's health education manager.

Polello says the consolidated space will enable the center to serve more patients and streamline its administrative operations.

CHER currently operates diabetes programs with identical services in the Wells Fargo Center, at 601 W. First Ave.; in Valley Hospital & Medical Center's Health Education Center, at 12606 E. Mission; and in the North Spokane Professional Building, at 5901 N. Lidgerwood.

The consolidated center will have a classroom and counseling areas and expanded weight-management services, Polello says.

The center will add a nurse practitioner to its staff of 10 nurses and diabetes educators at the Riverpoint location, she says.

Dr. Colleen Carey, an endocrinologist, is the center's medical director, Polello says.

In addition to serving people with diabetes, the new location in the heart of the Riverpoint campus will provide educational opportunities, such as internships, for students who attend classes there, she says.

CHER's other services, which include a number of health-education and screening programs, will remain located in the Wells Fargo Center, Polello says.

Chris Bell, of NAI Black, and Gordon Hester, of Kiemle & Hagood Co., handled CHER's lease in the Riverpoint One Building.