Years of work will come to fruition next week as Waco Family Medicine opens a $65 million flagship facility bringing together medical specialty clinics, community resources and primary care physicians under one roof.
The one-stop shop and headquarters at 1600 Providence Drive will improve care opportunities for patients and provide family practice doctors in residency with access to greater professional development. It represents a decadelong passion project for Dr. Mike Hardin, chief clinical officer of Waco Family Medicine.
WATCH NOW: Waco Family Medicine's $65 million flagship facility on Providence Drive
So many of our patients face transportation insecurity and other challenges to their health like being food-insecure or not living in a neighborhood where they can just go outside to exercise, Hardin said. Now we wont have to send them across town to see certain specialists, and we have community partners on the first floor to offer them housing assistance, nutrition assistance or to help them pay rent and so forth. Having all this in one place will help close gaps in their care and allow them opportunities to improve their lives.
Waco Family Medicine is a Federally Qualified Health Center offering comprehensive health care services. It has more than a dozen locations that served 60,000 patients last year, primarily uninsured or underinsured patients, offering an income-based sliding fee scale.
Fundraising remains underway to pay for the new facility, with less than $13 million left to raise for the $65 million project.
WATCH NOW: Dr. Mike Hardin talks about Waco Family Medicine's new 143,000-square-foot facility, which doubles the clinical space at its Providence Drive campus. (February 2024)
The specialty clinics to be housed in the new headquarters will also give Waco Family Medicine medical residents the chance to rotate with specialists and apply what they learn in the full spectrum of family practice medicine, residency program director Dr. Burritt Hess said.
The organizations residency program already is highly rated and highly competitive, with 700 applicants for 12 positions in a recent group of residents, associate program director Dr. Ryan Laschober said.
Gloria Veracruz Guerra has been a patient at Waco Family Medicine for 42 years. She also has worked there in a variety of roles starting in nursing in 1982, transitioning through billing into patient administration and retiring more than six years ago. She has also been a member of the medical board for the practice the past five years.
Every time I walk into Waco Family Medicine, I observe how other patients are treated, Veracruz Guerra said. I look to see whether they feel heard and whether their needs are addressed.
From the first greeting when patients enter, until they leave, patients receive respect and find their needs addressed and their lives improved, she said.
Now we wont have to send them on another bus ride to another clinic in a different part of the city for specialty care, Veracruz Guerra said. Theyll be able to go to another floor or down the hall to see who they need to see.
The specialty clinics will include minor surgical care; skin care; care for muscles, bones and connective tissues; and care for long-term inflammatory ailments, officials said.
Hess said the practice may reach out to specialists who treat diabetes and glandular conditions as well as those who treat kidney diseases.
Only a portion of health can be addressed in the patient exam room. The rest is social and environmental, Laschober said.
Twenty percent of health is inside the exam room. Eighty percent is community resource, Laschober said. This new facility will provide patients access to care for the whole person. We will have medical, dental and behavioral health here along with addiction medicine.
The facility will also have indoor and outdoor exercise rooms for patients.
For some people, a physician can tell them to exercise more and they know what to do, but not everyone was a high school or college athlete and remembers how to put together an exercise training plan, Laschober said.
We will now give our patients the tools to succeed, he said. We have a fantastic wellness and fitness center, where patients will meet with a fitness specialist who will help them tailor an exercise program specific to their needs. This is not for big biceps. Its for wherever they are on their health journey.
Waco Family Medicine officials, area politicians and celebrities Chip and Joanna Gaines ceremonially broke ground Thursday on a $61 million central facility for the medical services nonprofit that will replace the current one at its existing location in the 1600 block of Colcord Avenue. (October 2022)
There will also be community-partner organizations on-site to help patients address housing challenges, and a variety of programs and resources, including Greater Waco Legal Services and even nutrition, Laschober said.
We have Shepherds Heart who will help with food distribution, but now well also have a culinary test kitchen where local partners will help patients learn to prepare nourishing meals they will eat and enjoy consistent with their culture, he said.
The range of services is aimed at addressing the social drivers of health, Hess said.
Patients will be able to meet with clinicians and community partners, lowering barriers to health and allowing them to flourish in their lives with families and employment as well, Hess said.
The easier access to specialists will also present opportunities for Waco Family Medicines residents training to specialize in family medicine, Hess said.
We have specialists who have graciously volunteered their time to serve patients who are generally uninsured and they will also oversee teams of residents, Hess said.
The specialists and the residents will collaboratively review their patients histories and develop a treatment plan together.
We are thrilled to offer the residents a state-of-the-art medical facility for training that will move training forward in huge ways beyond what the old building allowed, Hess said. And there will be a ripple effect, as these residents complete the program and go out to practice themselves. They will offer top notch care, second to none.
Friday will be the last day providers see patients in the current building next door to the new one, Hardin said. The staff will move their final items and equipment into the new building over the weekend and begin seeing patients there Monday.
Waco Family Medicine offers care from the beginning of life to the end of life, Veracruz Guerra said.
People who may be looking for a new physician should come see us and give us a chance, she said.
Waco Family Medicine plans to have a grand opening after the old building has been demolished and the campus has been put into its final form, likely in the fall, spokesperson Nick Alvarado said.
Even if people do not have a medical need, they should still come get a tour during the grand opening and see what it offers, Veracruz Guerra said.
Fundraising efforts for the new headquarters went public in December 2021, and a groundbreaking ceremony in October 2022 marked the start of construction on the 143,000-square-foot facility, with Dallas-based Beck Group as the main contractor.
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