Breaking into Health Care

Community leaders and members of the board and staff of Jordan Valley Community Health Center ceremonially break ground Aug. 29 on renovations to a portion of the L.E. Cox Building that will house the health center’s new clinic. The 40,000-square-foot facility, 440 E. Tampa St., will replace the health center’s clinic at 630 W. Kearney St. when it opens in August 2009. The $8.2 million clinic, geared toward the underinsured and uninsured, will have 50 exam rooms – double the capacity of the Kearney clinic – and room for a 10 percent staff increase. The project will seek Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification.

At right, U.S. Sen. Kit Bond addresses the crowd. Bond was instrumental in the center obtaining status as a federally qualified health center, opening the door to federal funds; the fiscal 2008 Labor-Health and Human Services bill includes $1.5 million in federal money for the project.