The first phase of a new medical village in the Crossroads Center outlet mall in Normal is nearly complete.
Phase one will allow Florida-based Pentus Health to serve the majority of Rivian’s employees. That phase should be completed by the end of June. Ultimately, the 35,000-square-foot space will be open to others in the Bloomington-Normal area.
The estimated cost for when the project is complete, including medical equipment, is around $10 million.
Rivian impact
Curaechoice is a health coverage network for self-insured companies. The Alabama-based company will allow Rivian employees to access health care at reduced costs.
“In most of our cases, it's zero co-pay, zero deductibles, zero out-of-pocket,” said Paresh Naik, head of operations at Curaechoice. “So essentially, it's free health care for the employees without a change to their medical plan, without a change in their premiums, but access to quality health care within Bloomington-Normal.”
The medical village will lessen wait times for medical care for employees at Rivian, which has seen continued expansion in recent years.
"It's great to have options,” said Kate Thorndyke, Rivian's senior manager for occupational health and medical management. “Just to expand the options and be able to get seen in a timely manner and so close to the manufacturing site.”
Future outlook
The first phase set to be completed next month is for primary urgent care. Within the next eight months to a year, the clinic will have the capacity for diagnostics, urology and physical therapy, said Ivan Reyes, chief operating officer for Pentus Health, adding the company also is looking to build a surgery center at the clinic.
“So, it’ll be a full-fledged multidisciplinary village,” said Reyes.
This new facility should help ease health care accessibility difficulties for some in the area, without providing as many services as OSF Healthcare or Carle does.
“Accessibility is key. And as far as the hospital and any of our enterprises, there's always a collaboration between the practice and the hospital,” said Reyes. “The hospital has a very important part, whichever be Carle or OSF, because there are things that we cannot provide and the hospital can provide.”
The addition could reverse a decline in tenants seen both at the outlet mall and at similar locations nationally. The rise of online shopping took over a sizable chunk of the retail market even before the COVID-19 pandemic that exacerbated the decline of brick and mortar retail.
“I think it's just good to utilize the space that hasn't been utilized and maybe bring some life to it,” said Amber Jones of Bloomington, who will be working as a primary care nurse at the new location. Jones is a graduate of the Mennonite College of Nursing at Illinois State University.
