By Jill Nagy
Hudson Headwaters Health Network plans to break ground this fall for a new, larger, family medical center in Moreau, about a mile from the existing Moreau facility.
The new medical center will built on 5.1 acres of land Hudson Headwaters purchased last June at 1299 Route 9 and 34 Fawn Road, close to the Northway.
Plans call for a 24,000-square-foot facility, most of which will be occupied by Hudson Headwaters. There will be 18 examination rooms, two procedure rooms, a health behavior room, and space for care management and nutrition, officials said.
Glens Falls Hospital will lease about 6,000 square feet, where it will provide medical imaging and laboratory services. Another 2,500 square feet are set aside for a stand-alone pharmacy.
The architects for the project are Richard E. Jones Associates in Queensbury, a firm that specializes in the design of medical facilities.
Currently, the Moreau facility has 12 providers, some of whom are shared with other centers in the network. Hudson Headwaters officials said it is likely that additional providers will be added when the new facility opens, in about a year.
A growing population in the Moreau area created the demand for more space, both for Hudson Headwaters and for the Glens Falls Hospital services at the center according to Dr. Tucker Slingerland, CEO of Hudson Headwaters.
“Both organizations recognize the need to expand services in Moreau because of a growing population and have made it a priority to work together to serve that need,” said Tucker. “Finding better ways to deliver health care requires good communication, joint planning and willingness to do things we’ve never done before. So, both organizations are really proud of the planning process that went into this and our ability to provide more convenient health care to our patients,” he added.
The Moreau clinic is one of 17 Hudson Headwaters health care centers serving patients in some 5,600 square miles of mostly rural upstate New York. In most of that area, they are the sole provider of medical care.
Together, the centers serve more than 1,000 patients a day, a total of 82,800 patients in 2017, according to the organization. Its headquarters is in Queensbury. Hudson Headwaters began in 1974 with a single health care facility in Chestertown. The Moreau center opened in 2001.
Once the new center opens, the existing Moreau center will be closed. However, plans for use of the building and site are still up in the air, according to Maggie Evatt, a marketing specialist at Hudson Headwaters.