With the American health care bill still up in the air, Americans continue to wait on seeking medical treatment until their conditions have become emergencies. Emergency room visits in the United States have grown to 110 million visits annually. And, when it comes to dental, approximately 1 in 5 Americans have cavities that are untreated.
Fortunately, for the Grand Rapids community, many won’t have to wait for medical treatment any longer. The Grand Rapids Clinic is now expanding thanks to a $14 million investment from Essentia Health.
Essentia Health is partnering with Lakewood Surgery Center and investing $14 million to offer the residents of Itasca County a greater number of health choices.
“This expansion allows us to provide affordable, high quality care to the residents of the Grand Rapids and Deer River communities in a familiar place they know and trust,” said Dr. Dan Nikcevich, the leader of Essentia in the Northwestern Wisconsin and Northeastern Minnesota regions, to the Herald Review. “It’s one more way we can help make a healthy difference in the lives of the people we’re called to serve.”
According to the Herald Review, Lakewood Surgery Center approached Essentia because they wanted to offer their patients a wider array of options. The Center has been taking care of patients in the Grand Rapids area for 11 years.
“The surgeons, physicians and staff are all here still for the people of Grand Rapids who have come to love and appreciate Lakewood Surgery Center,” said Dr. Dan Margo. Margo serves Lakewood as the Board Chair as well as the Surgery Center where he works as a general surgeon. “This new partnership will give our patients much better access to low cost, high quality care and expanded services for them as well.”
The expansion of the health care services will now allow patients in the area to have greater access to treatments in podiatry, cardiology, orthopedics, and (in the future) urology and ENT care. Oral surgery will additionally be provided via the partnership of Lakewood with a local dental group.
“Our patients will receive the appropriate care right here in Grand Rapids,” said Dr. Margo, “with the same physicians they’re used to seeing, but now have access to Essentia specialists, if they need to that levels of care.”
Since the announcement, Essentia Health has selected MedCraft, a national leader in the development of medical office buildings, as the organization’s development partner. “Construction will begin in July,” reports the Herald Review, “with a planned completion date of late Spring, 2018.”
A complimentary ice cream social open to the public will take place on Tuesday, July 11 from 2 to 4 PM to celebrate the development. The social will take place at the Essentia Health Grand Rapids clinic.