Adena and Area Partners Set to Open East Side Clinic

Adena Health System, in collaboration with Hopewell Health Centers and the Chillicothe City School District (CCSD), revealed plans today for a new primary care clinic to serve people living on Chillicothe’s east side. The new clinic will be housed within the Mount Logan Elementary School / Early Childhood Center, located at 841 E. Main Street, Chillicothe.

The clinic, a collaboration between the three entities, will offer care for minor acute and long-term primary care needs. It will serve the school-based population, as well as people of all ages living in the surrounding neighborhoods.

“One agency cannot take care of everything, and what you’re seeing today is a combination of education and health care coming together,” said Adena President and CEO Jeff Graham. “Adena’s strategy around partnerships is all about keeping care close to home. This partnership will give access to primary care for people living in this community. In our research, we looked at the needs of the community, and the data showed a lack of access to health care in the area. This clinic will be a start in meeting the health care needs of the children and adults of the neighborhood.”

The collaboration between Adena, Hopewell Health and CCSD is expected to meet the growing health care needs of people in the area east of Bridge Street and west of Route 35, giving them a new option for close-to-home primary care services. The availability of space within the property will enable the clinic and health care services to grow to meet future needs if necessary.

Determined to keep the school as a neighborhood hub, CCSD came up with the concept to lease space within the school building to house a clinic; coming to Adena to help develop a plan.

“We came to realize as board members and as a district that by keeping the building open, we could not only have an impact on kids, we could have an impact on the community,” School Board President Steve Mullins said. “The first group we knew we wanted to partner with was Adena Health System. They have been a great partner of ours through the years, and they provide so many services for our kids. You can ride through town on any given day and see the impact Adena has on our community.”

Soon after Adena and CCSD began working on a plan, Hopewell Health Centers was brought to the table for its expertise in providing high quality, community-based health care. Hopewell Health with operate the clinic, serving as its primary clinic service provider. Adena will support the project by renovating the old band room into a running health clinic, which will also serve as an education venue for Adena’s Graduate Medical Education residents. The experiences they will be involved with at the clinic will give them valuable hands-on training in administering community-based health care. Additionally, advocates with Adena’s Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Advocacy Services will be housed within the facility.

The value of the three-way partnership, and what each partner brings to the table was clearly recognized during the Thursday morning event.

“What this project is about is partnerships,” said Chillicothe Mayor Luke Feeney. “This is a project that doesn’t happen if there are egos involved. Working together is the only way this type of thing happens. It’s such a neat thing to see this partnership grow. What’s coming together in this building is to benefit the education and health of our children, and it is our future.”

CCS Superintendent Debbie Swinehart also noted the importance of partnerships in doing what is needed for our community’s children and families. Now more than ever, schools are taking on more responsibility for more than just the education of the children it serves. This project is coming at just the right time for the district. 

“This partnership comes at a time when our kids come to school every day with really intense needs that are way beyond our area of expertise as teachers,” said Swinehart. “Over the last couple of years we’ve been fortunate to partner with some agencies to address our kids emotional, social and mental health needs; and the medical area is the piece we needed to close-in on for our students. This partnership helps us to meet a need that we’re not currently able to meet. I think our kids are really going to benefit from this, and it’s really going to help our teachers who worry a lot about our kids.”

Construction to remodel the space will begin soon, with the clinic set to open later this summer.