Clinic breaks ground on East Side of St. Paul to meet growing need

West Side Community Health Services (WSCHS) recently broke ground on a 34,000 square-foot replacement facility for its East Side Family Clinic. The new facility, located at 895 East Seventh St., doubles WSCHS’ clinical space on St. Paul’s East Side and will allow WSCHS to increase medical care and establish dental and mental health services to uninsured or underinsured residents of the East Side community.

WSCHS’ decision to move and expand was based on the growing need for affordable medical and dental services on the East Side, according to Dr. Jaeson Fournier, WSCHS’ CEO. “There’s been a shift in the East Side community, and that has meant a higher level of poverty in these neighborhoods,” Fournier said. “Part of our five-year plan is to do more to address that by increasing the clinic’s presence in the community and making its low-cost services more accessible, especially dental services.”

A community-based and patient-directed organization, WSCHS expects to serve the medical, mental health and dental needs of more than 11,000 patients through the new East Side Family Clinic, opening in May of 2013. The new facility will cost $11.2 million once complete.

“We knew the community needed us to expand our services, and thanks to the support of community partners like the St. Paul Port Authority and a $4 million Federal Affordable Care Act grant, we will finally deliver a new state-of-the-art healthcare building that will serve the community for many years to come,” said Board Chair Robert Sheehy, adding, “private funders have also joined this effort.”

Additional funding was secured through New Market Tax Credits from the St. Paul Port Authority and Local Initiatives Support Corporation, with participation from US Bank, which purchased the tax credits. US Bank spokeswoman Nicole Garrison-Sprenge said, “This is our backyard, too. We understand this project and what it means, so we wanted to be involved.” Central Bank (Golden Valley) provided additional financing for the project with WSCHS acquiring the land for $1 from the St. Paul Port Authority as part of its Beacon Bluff Development of former 3M land.

West Side Community Health Services has delivered quality, affordable health care to the community since 1972. Its mission is to “Strengthening the well-being of our community through health care for all.”

For more information on West Side Community Health Services, them at 651-602-7536 or got to www.westsidechs.org