PASCO -- Community Health Center La Clinica plans to build a three-story medical office and double the size of its Pasco urgent care clinic.
Carl Walters II, La Clinica chief executive officer, said the expansion is tied to the nonprofit's efforts to meet increasing community medical care needs for those with private medical insurance and those without.
The medical office planned at 715 W. Court St. will allow La Clinica to meet increasing demand for primary care in the Tri-Cities, Walters said.
The building will have La Clinica's behavioral health, dentist services, Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program and the call center.
"The demand for the services that we envision being housed in that building continues to grow," Walters said.
With the move, the clinic's dental chairs will increase from seven to 12, allowing more patients to be seen, Walters said.
The federal WIC nutritional program outgrew its space in La Clinica's current Court Street clinic, Walters said. La Clinica has been serving more families because of additional funding it has received in the last year.
A $7.4 million federal stimulus grant received in December will pay for the new medical office.
A preliminary building schematic will be finalized when the clinic is closer to breaking ground, Walters said.
According to plans filed with the city, the building will be almost 40,000 square feet and have a footprint of about 10,320 square feet.
The plans include room for growth. Walters said space will be set aside for expansion that could include obstetrics, family practice and internal medicine.
Renata Presby, senior architect with Kennewick's Meier Architecture and Engineering, said the project will be ready to bid in July, with construction starting in August. It may be completed in December 2011.
David McDonald, Pasco city planner, said the clinic will require a special permit for community service facilities.
The Pasco Planning Commission will hold the only public hearing on the permit at 7 p.m. March 18 and make a recommendation to the city council.
In addition, La Clinica is 60 to 90 days from starting renovation of its urgent care clinic at 507 N. Fifth Ave., Walters said.
The project, paid for by a $1.1 million federal grant, will double the number of clients La Clinica's urgent care can serve, he said. La Clinica previously leased half of the building from Lourdes Health Network and will now lease the whole building.
Urgent care will continue at the clinic during renovations, said Diann Kummer, La Clinica chief operations officer.
Construction is expected to be complete in September or October, Walters said. "It will be more family friendly," he said.
By doubling urgent care capacity, Walters said La Clinica hopes to decrease hospital emergency room visits for issues that should go to primary care physicians.
La Clinica has averaged more than 100,000 patient visits a year for the last two years, and visits will grow with the clinic's expansion, Walters said. He said the clinic already has doubled its primary care providers in the last year.
And La Clinica recently started a dental screening program at Captain Gray Early Learning Center in Pasco, an all-kindergarten school, said Brian Schur, chief dental officer. The program will help children get ongoing dentist care, he said.
Last fall, La Clinica became the only health clinic in the Tri-Cities to offer government assistance unemployable behavioral health services, Walters said.
Timothy Hoekstra, La Clinica director of quality and corporate compliance officer, said the program offers mental health care, counseling and coordination for 100 patients without insurance, and has plans to add patients.
La Clinica also has explored partnerships to expand and improve care. For example, it is entering into an agreement with the University of Washington that will allow patients with hepatitis C to benefit from a UW specialist using teleconferencing, Kummer said. That also will educate clinic providers on how to assist patients with the disease.
La Clinica also will add clinic rotation programs with students from Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences medical school and the University of Washington dental school, Walters said. The rotations will provide La Clinica patients the latest medical practices and help the clinic attract health care providers, he said.
-- Kristi Pihl: 582-1512; kpihl@tricityherald.com
