By April, Suncoast Community Health Centers Inc. CEO Bradley Herremans hopes to have a new facility open — one that will serve some Plant City residents.
The new location will be Suncoast’s first location north of Interstate 4, located closer to the Tampa area. Located at 9555 E. Fowler Ave. in Thonotosassa, the new 2,106-square-foot facility will serve residents who live along the I-4 corridor, including those from the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World.
“We serve residents from all of those communities,” Herremans said. “Most come from Plant City and Ruskin.”
Once the new facility is established, patients will have access to different programs through Suncoast, including access to different services throughout the centers — access from physicians to getting prescriptions.
The new facility’s employees will largely be made up of transfers.
“There will be five to 10 employees once it’s fully up and going,” Herremans said.
To make up for the transfers at existing facilities, Suncoast will hire about five new employees.
“We’re seeing growth,” Herremans said. “We’re getting there slowly.”
The 501-c3 nonprofit, which is partnered with South Florida Baptist Hospital in Plant City, has seen major growth. Serving Hillsborough County since 1977, the company has expanded locations from four to 12 and currently has over 400 employees. In addition to the brick and mortar locations, Suncoast also has mobile offices that travel around Hillsborough County.
“Last year we had over 52,000 patients and 190,000 visits,” Herremans said. “Our mobile units have treatment rooms in an RV with dental chairs for mobile dental work.”
The company has also expanded to offer optometry at some facilities, including clinics in Ruskin and Brandon. The company’s Tom Lee Community Health Center, located on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Dover, also offers optometry.
But residents don’t have to travel far for their primary medical needs. Plant City’s existing Suncoast facility, a family care medical clinic, is located at 508 N. Maryland Ave. The area’s Suncoast pediatrician is located at 502 N. Mobley St.
But the new facility will serve area residents, as well — especially those who travel back and forth to Tampa and surrounding areas for work.
“We’ve already started the project,” Herremans said. “We will be developing the clinic between now and the first of April. If all goes well, we should be seeing (completion) toward the first of April. We will continue to serve Plant City residents.”
The facility will be for family medicine and will have one or two providers, Herremans said.
The first provider will see both adults and children. After 18 months, the company will look into expanding into a second provider, similar to the beginnings of the company’s nearby Wimauma facility.
“It’s a little mix of everything,” Herremans said. “It’s truly family medicine. Children can get immunizations and lab work. If it plays out like it did in Wimauma, like we’re hoping it will, we’ll … expand into a second provider. In a new area, it’s easier to lease a space and then eventually, when it’s built up, purchase property.”
Contact Emily Topper at etopper@plantcityobserver.com.