This is a major investment in the heart of West Dayton where health services are desperately needed, said Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley.
“The commission and I are very excited about this investment,” she said.
MORE: Health center plans $30M investment for southwest Dayton
This month, the Dayton City Commission approved a planned development for 4.4 acres at 721 Miami Chapel Road to support the construction of a new medical office building.
Five Rivers Health Centers plans to construct a new three-story building on the vacant, former Whittier school site. The site is at the northwest corner of the intersection of Miami Chapel Road and Campbell Street.
Five Rivers Health Centers, the ninth largest federally qualified health center in the state, will transition about 150 employees to the new center when it opens, likely in fall 2021, said Gina McFarlane-El, the organization’s CEO.
The new headquarters will consolidate several different departments located across the Dayton area, including pediatrics, internal medicine, specialty care, women’s health, dental and administration.
The center also will have a pharmacy, with a drive-thru, a lab and community meeting space.
MORE: New health care center planned for Dayton’s west side
Five Rivers Health Centers plans to open a Health Disparity Center that will focus on assisting patients that are obese, hypertensive and diabetic, McFarlane-El said.
The organization serves more than 28,000 patients, who account for more than 90,000 visits each year, she said.
Most of its patients are people on Medicaid, and Five Rivers Health Centers has grown from three locations in 2012 to 11 today, McFarlane-El said.
“The goal is to continue to grow and to prosper,” she said. “We’re looking to add more services as we grow.”
The group, which focuses on comprehensive disease management, expects about 600 patients each day will visit the new facility, not counting the additional 100 who each day are expected to stop by the pharmacy, McFarlane-El said.
Five Rivers Health Centers has grown from 77 employees to 245, and one reason the organization is unique is because it has medical residents, she said.
“We, within our particular area, have more medical residents who are in a federally qualified health center than anybody else in the nation,” McFarlane-El said.
The new center, which will be the largest federally qualified health care building in the area, will have about 50 practicing medical residents from Wright State University, she said.
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