Moses Lake Community Health Center expands

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Community Health Center is doubling in size to 40,000 square-feet.

A new entrance to the building opened Monday, but services won't be offered in the expanded area until early January. Construction started April 3.

The health center rents space in two buildings and is moving the services to its main location. The new space mainly needs furniture before staff move in the week of Christmas.

With the building expansion comes an expansion of services, said Chief Operations Officer Julie Weisenburg. The center hired its first internal medicine physician in September and is recruiting for its first pediatrician.

In the past, the center referred pediatric and internal medicine patients to other health centers. Referrals are not always ideal for patients with transportation issues, Weisenburg said. Before the internal medicine physician joined the center, all its physicians were family practice. The center wants to draw in more geriatric patients with the internal medicine physician, she said.

A demand for expanded services exists at the center, Weisenburg said.

"We have just run out of exam rooms for them to be seen in," she said. The expansion adds 18 exam rooms to the building, bringing the total to 58.

A bigger outreach department is going to continue connecting patients with community services in addition to insurance programs they may qualify for.

Weisenburg said the expansion was paid by using reserve funds and a loan. Weisenburg said the expansion is not going to increase the cost of services for patients. The chief financial officer, chief executive officer and center board made sure the center was in a healthy financial position before pursuing the expansion, she said.

The center's mission is to serve those who are under-served and migrant farm workers, although everyone is welcome at the center, Weisenburg said.

"We've been able to stay true to our mission, even with expanding," she said.

The expansion is the first since the early 1990s, when the center doubled in size from 10,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet with the addition of a second floor.