Today Mary Rutan Hospital is forging ahead with plans as they break ground for construction of the Mary Rutan Health Center. The 75,000 square foot facility will include an urgent care as well as a new and expanded home for corporate health, therapy services and sports medicine. In addition, outpatient laboratory services, x-ray and retail pharmacy will be onsite for the convenience of visitors.
Mary Rutan Health Center will be located on land acquired in 2015 near the intersection of Route 33 and 68 North. The site was formerly home to the Holiday Inn, which was torn down in 2014.
“We are pleased to break ground on this facility that will offer the first urgent care in Logan County and provide more than three times the space allocation for corporate health services, therapy services and sports medicine; offering more convenient access to advanced health care services for our region,” says Mandy Goble, president and CEO of Mary Rutan Hospital. “Mary Rutan Hospital has long served the health care needs of the Logan and surrounding counties, and we are committed to continuing that tradition of excellence with an expanded physical presence in the community.”
Construction will begin this month and is expected to be complete early 2018.
Chad Ross, vice president of operations, explained that the Mary Rutan Health Center will be part of a development called Northpointe Center and that plans for the Health Center include working with as many local contractors as possible. "The 11.5 acre site has the potential to support retail development, we have had amazing support and cooperation from the leaders at the City of Bellefontaine and will continue to work closely with them with the hope that additional retail establishments will be a part of the final site development. It is our hope that our Health Center and the remainder of the land will act as a catalyst for economic development in this part of Logan County."
The new facility is the eleventh offsite location for Mary Rutan Hospital, which already has eight clinics in Bellefontaine, one in Urbana and one in Jackson Center. Officials say the new Health Center will be the largest of Mary Rutan Hospital's offsite locations and will cost approximately $29 million to build, furnish and equip. The Health Center is expected to employ 100 medical professionals and support staff, approximately 25 percent of these positions will be new hires to the Mary Rutan Hospital Team.
Due to strong financial planning and management, Mary Rutan Hospital plans to fund fifty percent of the project from the organization’s operations, totaling $14.5 million. The organization will take on new debt for the remaining unfunded cost of the project through either Direct Placement from a financial institute or by obtaining funding from the USDA. Mary Rutan Foundation will contribute $1 million from the Community Health and Wellness Fund and additional dollars will then be raised through an internal campaign of the employees, medical staff and board of directors; followed by a community phase of the campaign in the spring of this year. A formal announcement regarding the campaign goal and details of the campaign will be made in the coming weeks.