Hard Hat Tours available inside 10,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art facility, the first of its kind located in a farmers’ market
FLINT – Construction is underway on the estimated $2 million Hurley Children’s Center, located on the second floor of the Flint Farmers’ Market. The new build totals 10,300 square feet, and encompasses 12 pediatric specialty clinics, continuity/resident primary care clinic, 24 exam rooms, a lab, and an innovative resident/ preceptor teaching area. Future plans also include having prescriptions delivered to the Children’s Center location from our H-Care pharmacy located at Hurley Medical Center.
The project is a collaborative effort of Hurley Children’s Hospital and the Uptown Reinvestment Corporation (URC), which operates the Flint Farmers’ Market. The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation provided almost $1 million in funding for the project through a grant to the Foundation for the URC.
The Center’s design will be patient- and family-centered, incorporating an open layout that uses onstage (patient care) and off-stage (physician/provider areas) to support team-based care.
The Hurley Children’s Center offers pediatric medical services to the City of Flint, Genesee County, and a 15-county region in Michigan. Hurley’s Wellness Hub, located on the main floor of the Farmers’ Market already offers weekly information, classes, healthy cooking demos and much more.
“Placing a pediatric clinic in a Farmer’s Market is an innovative concept, opening up opportunities to partner with patients and families to live healthier lives and build a healthier community,” adds Mona Hanna-Attisha, MD, MPH, director, Hurley Pediatric Residency Program. “We’ll be able to give prescriptions to families to buy fruits and vegetables, and they can create healthy family meals by going downstairs and filling that prescription. We don’t know of any other medical office inside a farmers’ market where this is happening.
“Hurley is leveraging its role as the area’s premier public healthcare provider with the Farmers’ Market role in providing, and educating the community with, affordable and healthy food,” said Melany Gavulic, RN, MBA, president and chief executive officer, Hurley Medical Center. “We are so pleased to support this vital project. It’s a win-win situation for the entire greater Genesee County community, and will lead not only to greater health and wellness education, but to improved outcomes from a public health perspective.
Visiting families will be able to use their Double Up Food Bucks at the Farmer’s Market. Double Up provides Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries with a one-to-one match to purchase healthy, locally grown fruits and vegetables. The Farmers’ Market anticipates 1,000,000 visitors this year.
“The new Hurley Children’s Center is an exciting addition to Flint’s growing Health and Wellness District,” said Ridgway White, president of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. “Hurley’s health care providers are thinking outside the walls of their practice and bringing in the best the community has to offer to keep kids healthy and prevent them from getting sick in the first place. That’s a really forward-thinking approach. We commend Hurley on it, and we’re pleased to support the effort.”
Construction is expected to be completed this summer.