Schneck Medical Center recently purchased a prime piece of real estate on Seymour’s east side with an eye toward the future.
That future would include one in which employers, especially smaller ones, could obtain a variety of services for their employees, including acute and wellness care, a Schneck official said.
The clinic would be located on a 4.23-acre site at 2025 E. Tipton St. that the hospital purchased in November from Cimito. The parcel, purchased for $1.035 million, was once the site of Holiday Inn, which was demolished in 2013.
“We’re trying to look at developing something different for a clinic,” said Debbie Ridlen, vice president of fiscal services at the Seymour hospital. “We just want to position ourselves differently.”
Ridlen said the concept is in the early planning stages of development, but the thought was to purchase the property now so it’s available when needed.
The location also played a role in that decision.
“It’s close to the interstate and in a high-traffic area that is accessible to a lot of different employers,” Ridlen said.
A lot of clinics are mainly for acute care, but the proposed clinic would provide services that help patients with their lifestyle choices, including smoking, obesity and other issues that can lead to chronic health problems.
“We want to look at preventing those conditions from occurring in the first place,” Ridlen said. “We want to get patients more engaged in their health care. We will be trying to identify people at risk for chronic conditions and prevent them from getting any worse.”
To do that, the clinic would have personal health coaches, dietitians and other health care employees available to work with patients.
“There would just be a whole list of people to help,” Ridlen said.
The clinic would tailor programs to meet the needs of smaller employers and offer cafeteria-plan pricing based upon what they need.
Ridlen said local primary care physicians have been involved in discussions about the proposed clinic.
“They’re helping us develop the concept,” she said. “We’re gathering a lot of data and looking at best practices right now.”
At the moment, there is not a timeline as to when the clinic would be open for business.
“We’re excited about it,” Ridlen said.