Plans for New Postville Clinic Location Announced!
Veterans Memorial Hospital & Clinics Administrator (Chief Executive Officer), Michael Coyle, announced plans for a new Postville Medical Clinic, at the Postville City Council meeting on Monday night, August 11. Reasons for the need for a new clinic were many, but focused on the lack of space for the growing number of patients at the clinic each day.
“Our Postville Medical Clinic has been growing so well, going from 2 patients a day up to 16 per day. We average 9-10 patients a day and can no longer advertise walk-in appointments,” stated Laura Baxter, Waukon and Postville Clinic Director. “Our provider appointment slots are full most every day and we have so much more demand in both family health care and behavioral health care. Fortunately we do have new providers recruited to begin in Postville, but we have nowhere to put them. So we are very anxious to get this project underway.”
The current Postville Medical Clinic is located at 124 W. Greene Street. The proposed new location is right next door, to the west, at the former Upper Explorerland Building. The new project will have an additional three exam rooms for a total of five, plus a new procedure room and lab area. There will also be a new behavioral health clinic area for private consultations in a more comfortable, confidential atmosphere.
“The current providers we have at the Postville Medical Clinic will remain, but we will be adding two additional family practitioners and one Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse practitioner, so many days we will have two providers available, instead of just one,” adds Baxter. “This will allow us to begin to take those walk-in patients once again, plus expand our hours, opening earlier in the morning and remaining open all day without closing for lunch. This will all allow us to truly provide access to quality health care here at home”
The hospital has funding for $480,000 of this total $779,000 project. They are currently fundraising and searching for grants for the remaining balance of the project.
“VMH is very proud to have a presence in Postville and adding this new space will allow for additional daily appointments, increase the number of Providers & specialties, as well as grow additional services we can offer in Postville,” states Michael Coyle, CEO. “The community has been very welcoming in the three years we have been in Postville and we are excited to serve the community and region.”
The current medical office building will be used for storage and other future expansion. Community meetings will be held in Postville to cover this project in September and October.
