The new on-site health care center for North Penn School District employees and dependents is on track to have sitework completed by the end of November, with a grand opening sometime in January.
North Penn School District CFO Steve Skrocki updated the board’s Finance Committee Oct. 11 on the progress of the new healthcare center on the grounds of Penndale Middle School.
Skrocki said the modulator unit to be used as the healthcare center is being constructed this week in Georgia.
“I’m very, very happy to report, after it seems like four or five years when this process started, we are really getting close now to having the on-site healthcare center for our employees here at North Penn School District,” he said. “The site work is going to be starting by the end of this month. The modular unit is going to be in production (this week). Barring some act of God, that should be finished by November 17.”
Skrocki said the modular unit will take three days to transport from Georgia to Lansdale.
“Believe me,” Skrocki said, “we’ve been on a roller coaster ride with this healthcare center. Just when we think we have everything lined up, then we have bids that are rejected for the site work, for example. Then, we get a state contract and we’re back in play again.”
Skrocki said the sooner the healthcare center opens, the sooner the district “can march down that path of saving $10 million over a 10-year period.”
Skrocki said the district spends $27 million a year for providing healthcare for employees and eligible dependents.
“We are 4,200 lives covered on our plan between employees and dependents. Having the on-site healthcare center is taking the expensive approach of having individuals having to go to a primary care, urgent care of even an emergency sometimes, and bring that into a lower cost alternative,” he said. “We are still providing healthcare, but it’s being delivered at a lower cost to the taxpayers.”
Following Skrocki’s presentation to the committee, Superintendent Dr. Todd Bauer said, jokingly, “I would like to volunteer your services to drive the truck that says, ‘Oversized Load’ on its way back here.”
“I would be happy to,” laughed Skrocki. “I don’t want to drive the oversized truck; I want to drive the lead truck that guides them.”
During the public comment period of the meeting, Lansdale resident Jason Lanier thanked Skrocki for his detailed presentation and providing information available on the project.
“I do have some lingering questions regarding the clinic, mainly the authorization to do that in the school code,” Lanier said. “I’ve looked at this a number of times and can’t find anywhere where you’re allowed to build something not related to school on school grounds.”
Lanier compared it to the district building a gas station because it wanted to save everybody the cost of driving to school.
“It’s not permitted and it’s not an investment either because there is a strict investment procedure for the school to invest in,” Lanier said. “I’d like to get an idea under what code you are allowed to build this healthcare center?”
Board Director Jonathan Kassa, as a point of clarification from Skrocki, asked, tongue-in-cheek, if the district consider its propane filling station for its 90-plus fleet of propane-fueled school buses to be a gas station on school property. Skrocki said no.
Board Director Juliane Ramic said the healthcare center is a service point for district staff in the same way as the fueling center is a source of fuel for the buses and that it is a service for the district employees.
“We’re really excited and the thought of this opening up in early January now is incredibly exciting for me,” Skrocki said. “This is really the end of a five-year journey to bring it to conclusion … Next week starts production, so we’re psyched about that.”
In January 2022, the board approved a $71,260 design contract with SchraderGroup for a 3,500-square-foot pre-manufactured building to be set between Penndale Middle School and the school’s north parking lot along Penn Street. Originally, the project had a completion date of August 2022. While the old WNPV property was eyed as the initial site for the clinic, Penndale was chosen in the end.
All in all, the construction costs are estimated at $800,000.
At an operating cost of about $40,000 a month over four years, Colorado-based Everside Health will oversee the clinic, staffing it with two full-time employees, which would be a nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant, and a registered nurse. The clinic, which began as a concept in October 2020, would be open normal workday hours. A similar in-house clinic is underway in the Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit.
The clinic would have generic prescription medications available to its members, like Z-Pak or other prescriptions.
The district is expected to get back $400,000 of the $800,000 construction cost via grants and looks to apply $300,000 toward construction from the district health care fund.
See also:
Lansdale Council to Vote March 16 on NPSD's Health Clinic Development Plan
