Construction will start soon on a 2,200-square-foot modular building that will provide health services in the Norco area. The temporary site, which will be located at 941 First St., will service the East Bank until a 15,000-square-foot clinic can be built.
The St. Charles Community Health Center has been trying to build a new clinic on the East Bank for years and recently received grant money for a new facility from a U.S. Health Resources and Services program. The grant will pay $1.3 million in operating money over the next two years and property on River Road has already been donated.
“We are still working with the architect to develop a floor plan that will be able to accommodate all the services we will offer to the East Bank,” Community Outreach Coordinator Julia Bodden said.
When finished, the new clinic will offer primary care, OB/GYN, pediatrics, dental services and podiatry. In addition, the Norco clinic will have an adult day care center and might offer occupational medicine due to the amount of plants in the area.
Until that day arrives, the health center will provide primary care for both adults and children at the modular building, which should be complete next month.
“We are currently working with the construction company to have the site up and running by October,” Bodden said. “The areas that we are working on now is a fence to provide privacy for the neighbors and taking up concrete to install the plumbing system. Finally, the site needs to be landscaped.”
When the building opens, there will be two health care providers, along with nurses and other staff members, on hand to provide pediatric and primary care.
Other services will also be provided in the future as the needs arise, Bodden said.
One of the doctors who will staff the building, Dr. Sudha Mardia, has also received her Board Recertification as a primary care physician.
While waiting for the permit to be approved for the modular building, the health center has been offering care services in the Norco area with a mobile unit. Bodden said that an average of 10 patients a day have visited the mobile unit.
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