Indiana Regional Medical set to open new ambulatory care center

BLAIRSVILLE -- Most local officials agree that Indiana County's southern end is the part of the county currently experiencing the most dramatic growth -- a situation that's likely to continue in light of improvements under way to Rt. 22 and local infrastructure.

In step with that trend, Indiana Regional Medical Center on Tuesday will open the doors to Indiana at Chestnut Ridge, its new ambulatory care center located off old Rt. 22 just east of Blairsville.

While noting that many other health care providers have been scaling back and laying off staff to cope with the current economic hard times, CEO Steve Wolfe indicated that's not the case with IRMC.

"We've always seen challenging times as a time to thrive," Wolfe said at a gathering last Thursday when the new Chestnut Ridge facility was unveiled with a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony and tours.

Located at 25 Colony Boulevard, the 31,000-square-foot facility is situated on land purchased from the adjacent Chestnut Ridge Golf Resort and Conference Center. The care center is accessed by the same entrance that serves a residential development planned by the late Martin Bearer, who initiated the resort and much of the surrounding development along Rt. 22.

The new building has been named in honor of Bearer and his widow, Barbara.

Supplanting IRMC's existing medical center on East Market Street in downtown Blairsville, the much larger Indiana at Chestnut Ridge facility provides space for a number of additional new medical services, offering patients in southern Indiana County a convenient alternative to traveling to IRMC's main campus in Indiana.

"We see this as a continuation of our services to the Blairsville area," Wolfe said of the new Chestnut Ridge facility. "This is a very comprehensive ambulatory care center. For a building outside of the hospital, this is unique."

Included at the new center will be an URGI-Care facility that will be open daily to treat walk-in patients with minor illnesses or injuries who might otherwise have to seek treatment at a hospital emergency department.

"The URGI-Care setting will help to differentiate us," Wolfe said. "We're going to be here seven days a week for walk-in visits. Based on what's going on around the country, this type of URGI-Care is what consumers and patients are looking for."

URGI-Care, short for urgent care, can address such complaints as seasonal allergies, sinus infections, cold and flu symptoms, sore throats, earaches, minor cuts, minor back or abdominal pain and mild skin infections. Open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays, it also can provide physical examinations.

Wolfe said, if the medical staff assesses a patient and determines he needs more intensive care in a regular hospital setting, the individual can be stabilized for transport to Indiana or a facility in Pittsburgh.

IRMC officials note that patients still should seek out an emergency room in the event of life-threatening circumstances, chest pain, stroke, severe pain, cuts or bleeding, obvious fractures, pregnancy complaints or a change in mental state.

What all to expect

Other new services for the Blairsville area include a time-share office space where IRMC clinical specialists will be available at appointed times to see patients and the fourth location of Indiana Total Therapy, a physical therapy provider that is a collaborative venture of IRMC and the Center for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine. The ITT suite includes a gym, a locker area and a 10,000-gallon pool for aqua therapy.

Anchoring the Indiana at Chestnut Ridge center will be the internal medicine practice of Drs. Matthew Klain, Eric Heasley and Matthew Nettleton, who are relocating from their office on Blairsville's East Market Street.

Also relocating from downtown Blairsville is the office of Indiana Pediatric Associates headed by Dr. Christopher Vaglia.

Other office suites at the new center will provide local space for a women's health facility, staffed by Leona Logan, and the Visiting Nurse Association.

The center also will provide expanded services for cardiac and lab testing and diagnostic imaging -- complete with CT scan, X-ray, ultrasound and mammogram equipment.

A cafe will be available for use by patients and those who accompany them to medical appointments.

Wolfe noted the IRMC staff has expanded in recent years from 800 to about 1,400 employees.

Indiana at Chestnut Ridge will be staffed by 40 people, half of them IRMC employees and the remainder divided among ITT and the other various practices that will be sharing space at the facility.

According to Wolfe, IRMC has spent nearly $10 million and a little over a year in construction to develop the new Blairsville ambulatory care center as part of a four-year strategic plan. He noted the project represents the largest investment by the hospital since the construction of a new patient tower at the Indiana hospital campus in the late 1970s.

But Wolfe indicated an even larger project, estimated to cost about $40 million, is on the horizon to break ground by as early as the end of next year. He said an extensive makeover is proposed for a portion of the Indiana campus, adding new operating rooms and an intensive care unit. He said that project is not expected to add any beds, but would include the renovation of about 72 private rooms.

Klain, who has operated his Blairsville practice for 15 years, said patients there will benefit from the move to the new Chestnut Ridge facility by having improved access to a greater range of medical services available just a few doors away.

With advanced diagnostic services immediately at hand, Klain noted he and his colleagues will be able to promptly view resulting digital images ordered for their patients rather than waiting for results from a remote location.

"Very few primary care offices have that access," he said.

Heasley agreed that the new practice location and care center will be "a great boon to the community."

Klain noted the internal medicine practice also will have "lots of room to grow" at the new center. According to Klain, plans are to transform the existing Market Street medical office into an administrative office center for IRMC. The Open Door, a local drug counseling agency, will continue to offer services at that location, he said.

Klain opened an additional Indiana office for his practice in the late 1990s and has seen patients from as far away as Marion Center and Derry at his two locations.

Klain noted he purchased the practice from the late Dr. Herbert Hanna, who launched the Blairsville office in 1961 and also was affiliated with IRMC.

Klain described Hanna as "an old-style family practitioner" who made people from all walks of life feel welcome in his office, setting a tone that Klain and his staff have continued.

Klain noted he and his partners are among the few physicians who continue to travel to the homes of their patients. He added that the doctors also make regular visits to area personal care and nursing homes as well as the local hospital, providing an extra continuity of care for patients.

Wolfe also credited Hanna's Blairsville practice for giving IRMC a foothold in the local market and "planting the seeds" for the new care center.

"Today, we are planting a flag in the yard, re-establishing IRMC as the place to receive care in the region," Wolfe said of the center's opening.

According to Larry Sedlemeyer, senior vice president for business development and planning, IRMC has established a 35 percent market share for the geographic service area that has been defined for Indiana at Chestnut Ridge, making IRMC the market leader in an area stretching across 15 zip codes -- from Seward in the east to Clarksburg in the west and from Homer City south to Bolivar.

For more information about Indiana at Chestnut Ridge, call 1-877-459-IRMC. Klain's office may continue to be reached at 724-459-9111.