March 3 seen as opening date for healthcare center

Other districts curious about innovative project

The big day is now just weeks away.

North Penn School Board heard another update Tuesday night on the district’s planned healthcare center, and the timeline for when it could be up and running.

“The final completion of the healthcare center is scheduled for February 23rd. Our anticipated opening date is March 3rd. So we are now getting closer,” said district CFO Steve Skrocki.

The center has been on the drawing board since prior to COVID-19 and is meant to allow the district to provide staff and families on district healthcare plans certain services via a nationwide provider, with projections that it could reduce district healthcare costs by up to $10 million over ten years by providing lowercost treatments and options before medical issues grow costly.

Over the past two years, district staff and the board chose a site between Penndale Middle School and an adjacent parking lot, then awarded contracts for clinic operator Everside and various aspects of the construction and connections last summer. In mid-January staff said the prefabricated building had been delivered and was being installed on the site, and at the end of that month staff said the utility connections were being completed, and a change order had been identified for board approval later this month.

During the school board’s finance committee meeting Tuesday night, Skrocki gave another update, on work that’s been done since the last public report to the facilities and operations committee one week prior.

“The contractor will be doing painting starting this Wednesday, the toilet room tile started today,” and flooring work and installation of the receptionist desk are also scheduled for this week, he said.

As he spoke, Skrocki showed a photo of the building taken roughly two hours before the start of the meeting, with the roof now complete and a ramp to the front entrance now taking shape. Exterior stone work has also begun, and the exterior should be done over the next week, with a projected substantial completion date of Feb. 23 now targeted.

“And then: open one week for Everside to basically set up the clinic inside, make sure all the supplies are ready, and then March 3 would be the grand opening. So it’s coming along nicely,” he said.

Board Vice President Christian Fusco added that he’s watched the work during recent visits to Penndale, and heard from colleagues where he works at a nearby district about it, including with a coworker who lives in North Penn and initially thought it was a modular classroom building.

“When I explained to her what it was, she was fascinated — and jealous, and wondering why our district isn’t considering the same thing. So I have very high expectations for the success of this endeavor,” he said.

Skrocki added that, similar to the district’s low-income tax rebate program that has since been emulated by other districts, the healthcare facility is also drawing attention.

“I’m getting calls now, throughout the state, about our healthcare center. We’re already having a number of organizations and districts that want to take a tour, even though we’re not open yet,” he said.

North Penn’s school board next meets at 7 p.m. on Feb. 16 and the facilities and operations committee next meets at 7 p.m. on Feb. 27; for more information visit www.NPenn.org.