Nationwide Children’s Hospital said yesterday that it will join Ohio State
University’s Wexner Medical Center as tenants in New Albany’s health
and wellness center.
The children’s hospital, which has provided sports medicine services to
New Albany High School since 2005, plans to lease 8,500 square feet on
the proposed building’s second floor, said Gil Peri, Children’s vice
president of regional development.The hospital expects that 30 to 40
employees will work at the health center and serve 12,000 patients in the
first year.
Children’s offerings at the location will span injury prevention to
treatment, and will include sports medicine, pediatric orthopedics, sports
physical therapy, therapeutic massage, radiology and laboratory services,
health education and pediatric subspecialty clinics.
“This provides us an opportunity to bring the services closer to where
people live and work,” Peri said. The hospital also has dedicated sports medicine facilities in Dublin and Westerville.
The 52,000-square-foot building and associated improvements are expected to cost more than $12 million. The city plans to use bonds to help fund the building. The city also expects to pay $1.5 million in cash while Wexner Medical Center will chip in $500,000, city spokesman Scott McAfee said.
Wexner Medical Center is working with Integrated Wellness Partners, an
Akron-based for-profit venture, and will lease 38,000 square feet,
including a fitness center downstairs and medical office space upstairs.
The medical center will sublease the fitness center to Integrated Wellness.
Terms of the university’s lease and its agreement with Integrated Wellness
weren’t released yesterday pending completion of the two deals, said Dan
Like, Wexner Medical Center’s executive director of ambulatory services.
The medical center plans to place the equivalent of more than 40 fulltime
workers at the health center, Like said.Services will include primary
care, integrative medicine, behavioral health, sports medicine,
rehabilitation and physical therapy, and lab and radiology services.
Like said he expects 20,000 patient visits in the first year of operation, as
well as 3,000 fitness-center members. He said the building should be
open by summer 2014.