Mercy Ottumwa Medical Clinic is expanding its primary care presence and adding an Urgent Care Clinic in Ottumwa to improve access to care and to help achieve the highest quality outcomes for patients. The clinic, which serves people from Ottumwa and surrounding areas, will be relocated to a new building to be constructed at the former Food Bonanza location at 522 N. Hancock St. It will provide Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Urgent Care and Physical Therapy, and will have the latest digital technology necessary to support those services.
The project was made possible, in part, thanks to a grant award from the Ottumwa Regional Legacy Foundation. The Foundation has committed $600,000 to the project. The donation will cover the cost of important clinical technologies, allowing construction of the project to begin as soon as final approvals are received from the City of Ottumwa. The project is expected to be reviewed by the Ottumwa Planning & Zoning Commission on July 6.
“This new clinic will provide modern, patient-centered space to grow our practice in a 21st century environment. Our expanded services will provide better quality and access to local health care for our patients. My partners and I look forward to the opportunity to grow and improve health care for Ottumwa and the surrounding area,” said Dr. Peter Reiter, medical director of Mercy Ottumwa Medical Clinic.
Dr. Wael Haidar, president of Mercy Clinics in Des Moines, said, “It is difficult to express the depth of our appreciation to the Ottumwa Regional Legacy Foundation for its generous support of the project. In an era when available capital for such projects is extremely limited, the foresight and support of the Foundation’s staff and board truly allowed this project to proceed.”
Joe LeValley, senior vice president at Mercy’s system office in Des Moines, said, “We also are grateful to all the people of Ottumwa, who have so warmly welcomed Mercy’s presence in one of the community’s longest-standing and most highly-respected physician practices.”
The 36-year-old former grocery store has been vacant since 2009. It will be demolished to make way for the new clinic. A groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 2 p.m., Friday, July 15, at the construction site, and the new clinic is hoped to be completed by late Spring 2017.
Total construction on the six-acre site is estimated at more than $18 million. The new 32,800 square-foot clinic will retain 38 of its current staff, plus 19 additional staff members throughout the next few years— including physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and other medical professionals to deliver the expanded services. RB Developers, LLC, based near Grand Rapids, Michigan, will develop and own the clinic and will lease to Mercy.
Brad Little, CEO of the Ottumwa Regional Legacy Foundation, said, “We are excited and honored to be a part of this significant project for Ottumwa and the community. The Mercy Ottumwa Medical Clinic will feature many of the elements that contribute to a vibrant and growing community – health-related jobs, revitalization of a key site in the city, expanded health-related services and options, all in a state-of-the-art facility. The seeds we’ve sown to make Ottumwa an attractive place to do business are starting to bear fruit.”
“This is a project that has been in development since July 2014, about the same time it was being reviewed by Ottumwa Community Schools as the new administration building. Some deals take more time than others to come to fruition, but can be well worth the wait. This particular property had been identified as a brownfield site, so its re-use as a professional medical services center is an impressive change for our community,” said Sharon Stroh, Ottumwa Economic Development Executive Director. “This has been a well-coordinated project and City staff members in engineering, planning, public works and public safety, along with Ottumwa Water and Hydro, have been valuable players in the development,” she added.
Mercy Ottumwa has been with Mercy Clinics since July 2013 when Ottumwa Internal Medicine North and Ottumwa Family Practice and Specialties Clinics combined. The current clinic location at 1005 Pennsylvania Ave., Ste. 104, will be updated and remodeled to provide clinical space for Iowa Heart Center, a subsidiary of Mercy. Iowa Heart Center has provided cardiovascular services for the Ottumwa region since 2006.
