Friday, November 18th, 2022
Mercer Health to add to its catalog of services
By Leslie Gartrell
COLDWATER - Mercer Health continues to expand its services, with plans to open multiple new locations and offer behavioral health care services in 2023.
During Wednesday's hospital board of governors meeting, vice president of physician practices Martin Shehan gave an update on Mercer Health Medical Group activities.
The medical group consists of 15 offices located throughout Mercer and Auglaize Counties, Shehan said. He noted the new Mercer Health Medical Group at Mendon is slated to open in February, which will house a primary care physician and a rotating group of specialists.
Mercer Health acquired Coldwater Medical, Inc., the private practice of Dr. John Naveau, on Nov. 1. The new practice is named Mercer Health Medical Group at South Oak.
The medical group has plans to renovate the former Grand Lake Eye Care building to house the practice of psychiatric nurse practitioner-in-training Buffy Froning. The target opening date is September 2023.
Mercer Health chief executive officer Lisa Klenke said although the practice does not have a psychiatrist, the hospital plans to make connections with regional psychiatrists to potentially offer virtual appointments.
The hospital recently closed on the loan for the Mercer Health Marion Campus, Klenke reported. The new facility, located at 8016 Booster Drive in Maria Stein, will house the offices of Dr. Heather Kleinhenz, certified nurse practitioner Jodi Grover and other specialists. That project is estimated to be completed in November 2023.
In addition, the state has plans to demolish the former Orchard Tree restaurant thanks to Gov. Mike DeWine's Ohio Building Demolition and Site Revitalization Program.
The Mercer Health Medical Group Women's and Children's facility will eventually take the restaurant's place, which will have obstetrics and gynecology services as well as a pediatric practice.
"We will be a one-stop shop for women and children for their services," Shehan said. "When we talk about this in the community, we've got a lot of positive feedback. People are really excited about this concept."
A date for when the new facility would start construction and an anticipated completion date has yet to be determined, he said.
In other business, chief nursing officer Susan Miller reported there has been little activity on the COVID-19 front.
The hospital continues to see one or two COVID-19 patients per day, she said.
"Our resource utilization and metrics for for inpatients numbers, ER (emergency room) utilization, the swab (testing) station (are) still looking very low at this time," she said.
However, Miller noted the virus is still in the community as well as other respiratory illnesses. The hospital has seen numerous pediatric patients with RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and other respiratory illnesses.
Board members also met in executive session for 10 minutes to discuss strategic planning and peer review. No action was taken after the session.
The next board of governors meeting is 6:30 p.m. Dec. 21 in the Sanderell room at the hospital.
