A new $11.2 million home for the East Side Family Clinic held a grand opening Monday, with U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum and Mayor Chris Coleman taking part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The clinic, operated by the West Side Community Health Services and built on a former 3M site at E. 7th Street and Minnehaha Avenue, opened for business April 29.
It is double the size of the old clinic, enabling West Side Health to offer more medical services to more than 11,000 poor and uninsured, including dental and mental-health care.
The new clinic includes an on-site pharmacy, chronic disease management and 20 dental rooms opening this summer. The project was funded with a $4 million federal grant via the Affordable Care Act, tax credits from the St. Paul Port Authority and the Local Initiative Support Coalition, and financing with Central Bank-Golden Valley and U.S. Bank.
West Side Health began in the basement of St. Matthew's Catholic Church on St. Paul's West Side in 1972.
KEVIN DUCHSCHERE
@KDuchschere
