The $31 million project combines four departments under one practice, serving as a “one stop shop” to patients, according to Five Rivers Health Centers CEO Gina McFarlane-El.
“This building is now the largest federally-qualified health center site in Ohio,” McFarlane-El said.
Services housed within the new three-story facility include women’s health, pediatrics, dental, internal medicine, pharmacy, sports medicine, psychiatry, acupuncture, massage therapy, addiction medicine, nutritional services, transportation, administration, and billing.
“The four departments that relocated to this site occupied 50,000 square feet and outgrew all of their space,” McFarlane-El said. “Through the vision of our board and our leadership, (we were) encouraged to plan for future growth.”
Five Rivers says convenience is the goal so that patients have wrap-around services at one location.
The health centers see patients of all ages, including some without insurance, who are charged on a sliding-fee scale. More than two-thirds of the patients they serve have Medicaid. About 12% have Medicare, 9% have commercial insurance and 11% are self-pay, or uninsured.
Most of Five Rivers’ patients live in west and northwest Dayton, a contributing factor to the facility’s Edgemont location.
“Once our leadership team had the opportunity to read the strategic plan that the Edgemont and Carrillon neighbors put together, we were hooked,” McFarlane-El said. “Given the warmth and the vision that we’ve experienced over the past two years in this neighborhood, for those who have never visited this neighborhood, we have one question for you and one invitation: Why aren’t you here in Edgemont? And, we can’t wait to see you.”
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Dayton Mayor Jeffrey Mims was in attendance Wednesday and noted the importance of comprehensive health care, as well as the necessity for economic growth, as a determinant of healthy, thriving communities.
“This is special in so many ways because we all know how important it is for us to have more and more economic development ... (and) what’s happening here is another indication of just how concerned and how focused you all are in making sure that people in this community have good health care,” Mims said. “This center is representative of how you move to take care of some of the changing concepts associated with medical care.”
Five Rivers Health Centers is a federally qualified health center, which is designed to be accessible to all patients including for low-income and uninsured patients. The center is governed by a patient-majority board. In return for providing accessible health care, federally-qualified health centers can access some extra government funding sources.
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