Colorado Real Estate Journal -
Penrose St. Francis Health Services has forged an alliance with YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region and developer The Boldt Co. to build a “health village” focused on keeping people healthy. The Tri-Lakes Community Health Village in Monument will include a 50,000-squarefoot outpatient center and atrium lobby attached to Tri-Lakes YMCA, the YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region’s newest location. Construction of the three-story building, expected to cost in excess of $10 million, is scheduled to start in December and be completed by fall 2014. The Boldt Co., a Wisconsin based health care and real estate development and construction services firm, is the owner developer. The facility will provide urgent care seven days a week, as well as primary care, rehabilitation, occupational medicine, imaging, a number of specialty services and comprehensive wellness services. Penrose-St. Francis will occupy approximately half of the three-story building, the remainder of which will be offered for lease to tenants focused on preventive health care. “We’re extremely excited to partner with the YMCA to create the next generation of health care delivery in the Tri-Lakes area that focuses beyond the walls of our hospitals,” Margaret Sabin, president and CEO of PenroseSt. Francis Health Services, part of Centura Health, said in a press release. “Our innovative health neighborhoods approach is a total solution for consumers, providing optimal health care value while setting a new standard of care that Coloradans will come to expect.” “At the Y, we nurture the potential of children, empower people to lead fuller lives, and develop innovative and community-based solutions that unite people from all walks of life to participate in and work for positive social change,” added Dan Dummermuth, president and CEO of the YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region. “The community health village concept and collaboration with PenroseSt. Francis Health Services will strongly deliver on each of our focused areas – youth development, healthy living and social responsibility – and positively impact the Tri-Lakes community with preventive care services.” With the new health village, people will be able to see their physicians, get X-rays or lab tests and go across to the Y to swim or take a yoga class, for instance. “It’s just such a natural partnership to keep people well and out of the hospital,” said Penrose-St. Francis spokesman Chris Valentine. The focus on preventive care, the health system and YMCA believe, will lead to lower health care costs, more convenient care and a healthier community. The facility, located between Interstate 25 and Jackson Parkway, is being designed by RTA Architects. It will feature health information technology and appropriately trained staff such as health navigators to guide users through the system and customize each person’s needs across a full spectrum of available services. The approach enhances health care providers’ ability to follow patients across the health care continuum and treat the whole person rather than just a medical condition, according to Penrose St. Francis. It also encourages people to take care of themselves on a continual basis by making it easy and convenient to get checkups and screenings, increasing chances of early detection and mitigating significant health issues. “Our long-term vision is to toss out the old convention of only going to the doctor when sick and dealing with the sometimes massive and expensive bureaucracy that comes with hospitals and medical handoffs,” said Sabin. “Boldt is extremely excited to be able to partners with such forward thinkers as Penrose-St. Francis Health Services and the YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region to bring this innovative project to the community,” said Jake Garro of The Boldt Co.’s development group. “Our partners are writing new chapter as health care transitions from sick care to preventive care, and it is leadership like this that really makes the project fun to be part of.”