Petaluma Provider Plans Expansion

PETALUMA, Calif. — Anticipating a dramatic influx of new patients in the next six years, the Petaluma Health Center, a federally-qualified community health center, plans to add 21 medical exam rooms to the 53,000-square foot building that the center acquired this year and hopes to occupy by next spring.

 

The renovation is based on the estimates of center officials who predict that 20,000 or more uninsured people will sign up for insurance due to the healthcare law passed by congress. The expansion project will accommodate those growing numbers.

 

“Our current system will be unable to provide for them, and the emergency rooms and existing providers will be inundated with patients who will have coverage for perhaps the first time in their lives,” said Kathie Powell, CEO at Petaluma Health Center.

 

To fund the expansion, the center received an $8.9 million federal grant from funding related to the healthcare act. However, Powell says the center still faces having to raise $2 million for the expansion.

 

The center currently serves 15,000 patients from Petaluma, Rohnert Park, and Cotati, and plans to seek support from local foundations and individuals. The new facility is scheduled to open mid-2011 and anticipates their current staff of 110 employees to increase by 50. The center anticipates serving at least 40,000 people by 2016.

 

Mid-State Construction Inc., based in Livingston, Tenn., is contractor for Phase I of the project.