ROSTRAVER TOWNSHIP - A state-of-the-art wellness center - one that features on-staff physicians - is on its way to fruition. Ground was broken Wednesday for Mon-Vale HealthPlex, a clinically integrated medical fitness center and office building in Rostraver Township. The facility is being developed by Mon-Vale Multiphasics Inc., a subsidiary of Mon-Vale Health Resources Inc. It is being developed in cooperation with Willow Pointe Partners LLC, of Charleroi, and Bellevue Partners LP, of Belle Vernon. The Willow Pointe Plaza project is situated on an 80-acre parcel along Route 51. Mon Vale Health Resources Inc. is the parent company of Monongahela Valley Hospital. Mon-Vale Multiphasics will lease space for the wellness center, known as The Center for Fitness and Health, and for clinical services at Willow Pointe Plaza. Anthony M. Lombardi, Mon-Vale president and chief executive officer, said the wellness center will allow the healthcare system to "expand our continuum of care and improve the health of those in greatest need of health status improvement." Lombardi said the development demonstrates that the healthcare recognizes a need for innovation, imagination and the development of new models of healthcare delivery. "We will be extending our resources to emphasize the prevention of disease and promotion of good health as essential components ... ," to healthy lifestyles, he said. Lombardi, speaking at a luncheon prior to the groundbreaking, said it is important to distinguish between hospital care and healthcare. "In 1963, when I came to the Charleroi-Monessen Hospital, it was hospital care. Now, we're moving toward health care," he said. The following took part in the groundbreaking ceremony: Lombardi; Judy Ansill, who chairs the MVH Board of Trustees and the Board of Directors of Mon-Vale Health Resources Inc.; Thomas J. Cullen, MVH senior vice president; Jeffrey Imbrescia, Mon-Vale Multiphasics Inc. vice president; Don Ivill, General Industries president; Jay Lustig, Bellevue Partners president, and Rostraver Township commissioners Nick Lorenzo, George Martin, and Andy Temoshenka. Cullen, said that in combining the medical fitness center with diagnostic and therapeutic services, Mon-Vale will lease about 30,000-square-feet of space at the fitness center to provide: 25-meter, five-lap indoor swimming pool. 30-square-foot aquatic ther-apy pool. Group fitness rooms. Strength and resistance equipment. Cardiovascular equipment. Spa. Childcare and babysitting services. Walking track. Lockers and changing areas. Cullen said wellness center membership plans will be for families, adults and children. The facility is scheduled to open in early 2004. "It will offer a unique and viable alternative for those not inclined to use existing centers," Cullen said. Mon-Vale Multiphasics Inc. will lease 38,000-square-feet of space for: Physical, occupational and speech therapy and rehabilitation. Cardiopulmonary rehabilitation, which will be moved from MVH. Occupational health, which will be moved from the Vista One Professional Center in Speers. Mammography services, which will increase by 50 percent. The Dr. Dean Ornish nutritional program. Community health education facilities. Physician offices. Cullen said Mon-Vale Health Resources plans to invest about $1.2-million for equipment and other preliminary preparation. "Centrally located on Route 51, it also will be easily accessible via Interstate 70, which is only a few miles from the site," Cullen said. Lombardi said the new facility will not compete with existing wellness facilities. "We have had a long and healthy relationship with the Mon Valley YMCA," Lombardi said. "We expect that relationship to continue." Healthplex Associates of Springfield, Pa., with clinical fitness centers across the United States, will help manage the wellness center. Willow Pointe Partners and Bellevue Partners also plans to develop a new Rostraver Library at the site.

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