YRMC announces Foothills Health Campus project
Goal is expanded services for east County residents
Yuma Regional Medical Center announced the construction of a Foothills Health Campus next year. YRMC expects to break ground in the late spring.
The two-story facility will be located along South Frontage Road, between the Fry’s grocery store and YRMC Primary Care Foothills.
The development will bring an expanded array of healthcare services to residents in the Foothills and East County, YRMC said.
The project is in partnership with MedCraft Healthcare Real Estate, which focuses on the development, financing and management of ambulatory care and medical office buildings. Medcraft will own the building.
The Foothills Health Campus is being purposefully designed to create
an environment where patients can receive a full complement of services in one location. The conceptual facility will feature emergency services, primary care, walk-in care, laboratory services, imaging services and a pharmacy. A patient seeing their primary care provider will be able to easily complete their lab work or have an X-ray taken, then pick up a prescription, “all within the comfort and convenience of the same building,” YRMC said.
“This is an exciting project and an opportunity to truly design a care experience that is welcoming, convenient and one that supports and attracts clinical excellence,” noted Justin Farren, vice president for ambulatory operations at YRMC.
Another important element in the design phase of the foothills campus is the active participation and valuable input from doctors, staff members and patients. “We have an esteemed team of physicians who are eager to deliver care across all regions of our community,” Farren said.
“This new resource in the Foothills in many ways embodies the important work we are doing at YRMC to improve healthcare in our region,” he added. “We are excited to share this announcement with our community.”
Farren explained that YRMC based this expansion decision on two key criteria: meeting the healthcare needs of the community, including East County residents who have voiced the desire for better access to primary care services, closer to home; and delivering services that are high-quality, accessible, coordinated and efficient.
The clinic portion of campus will focus on three major areas of primary care: family medicine, pediatrics and women’s health. Services will also include rotating specialists from other YRMC clinics, such as cardiology, oncology and surgical specialties.
The project will be designed with both in-person and virtual visits in mind, further expanding the clinics’ ability to deliver care how, when and where patients need their individualized care.
Farren said that the new campus represents the medical center’s continued commitment of answering the community’s feedback for enhancements to care. He points to other improvements that have been made in response to the community’s feedback, like reduced wait times in the main Emergency Department or increasing the number of primary care and behavioral health providers in the community.
All prime examples of direct action inspired by community needs and wishes, he noted.
“We’ve made great strides in those areas. That is because we are driven by the goal of delivering the most exceptional level of care for our community,” Farren said. “While we understand that there will be bumps along the road, this is the vision and journey we are on for our patients.”