Health dept. clinic to grow

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Renovation plans for the Wood County Health District are beginning to take shape.
Wood County Community Health and Wellness Center, located within the health district, needs additional
clinic space and other changes to handle more clients and offer expanded services. Health district staff
learned late last year that the center would receive an ongoing federal grant from the Health Resources
and Services Administration.SClBThe clinic will receive $787,500 this year and $650,000 in 2015, with
the grant expected to become an ongoing funding source as long as its requirements are met.
Staff began meeting with Poggemeyer Design Group in December to draw renovation plans, which currently
designate a reconfigured flow through the clinic and four new exam rooms so more patients can be
treated. The grant allows for up to $100,000 in renovations in the first year, but that would only
address reorganization of clinic space. A building expansion that is also proposed for the health
district would need to be paid for separately from grant or levy funds, likely up front by the county
with the health district making payments.
Currently in the health center, patients enter reception and are shuttled back and forth through several
areas as they complete paperwork and wait to be seen.
"We run into a lot of wait time with that," said Ben Batey, CEO of the health center.
The redesigned layout will create less of a bottleneck and allow clients to move more easily through the
building, Batey explained.
Batey said he hopes construction will be complete by September, after which patients will move through
waiting and reception, into an intake and outtake area where they complete paperwork and schedule
appointments, and back to the service area expanded to 11 exam rooms.
The clinic currently operates a pharmacy, but only for medication assistance programs. Plans are to
expand to a dispensing pharmacy and install a new window to serve patients, who will be able to access
some drugs as they leave appointments and at a lower cost thanks to special pricing, Batey said.
"We can purchase meds for a much cheaper price and pass the savings along to our clients."
Specific cost estimates were not yet available, but Batey said some elements were removed from earlier
proposals in order to stay within the $100,000 budget.

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