MUSCATINE, Iowa (KWQC) – The Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine announced a new health clinic will soon replace the one built 47 years ago. The new clinic will be connected to the UnityPoint Health – Trinity Muscatine Hospital and feature three floors and 42,000 square feet of space.

“The existing facility has served our community well over the last 47 years. It provides pediatrics, family practice, internal medicine, surgery, and gynecology. It averages about fifty thousand visits annually but a lot has changed in healthcare over that time,” said Jamie Leza, Vice President of Operations at the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine.

The new clinic will include room for additional providers.

“It will allow us to grow and expand and meet the changing health care needs,” said Leza.

The latest Muscatine County Community Health Assessment found the county has a significant shortage of physicians. 48 percent of Muscatine County residents reported difficulty or delay in accessing health care. “Getting an appointment” was the most common barrier to access that prevented medical care. 46 percent of people reported leaving town to find health care somewhere else. The foundation hopes the new clinic will help improve access.

“We want the residents of Muscatine County to have access to quality primary health care and we hope that the new facility will help recruit and retain providers for our rural community,” said Leza.

According to the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine, the patient to physician ratio in the county currently stands at 2,147:1. Iowa’s average is about 1,300.

“If you look at Louisa County, they are 11,170 to 1, so recruiting providers is really important to our rural community,” said Leza.

The project is expected to cost fourteen to sixteen million dollars.

“The Roy J. Carver charitable trust has granted a million dollars in support of the project. Muscatine County has committed 875 thousand dollars of its ARPA funds. We have received a generous donation from the Howe Foundation, and Kent corporation recently announced they will be matching up to four million dollars in community donations,” said Leza.

Groundbreaking is expected this summer. The project is estimated to be completed by October 2023.

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