A worker cleans the UnityPoint Clinic-Mulberry sign on Thursday, Oct. 3, before a welcoming celebration for the clinic in Muscatine, Iowa. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
MUSCATINE, Iowa – An expanded and renewed $20 million health clinic is almost ready to reopen in this community. The Mulberry Health Clinic – officially known as UnityPoint Clinic-Mulberry – is scheduled to fully open on Monday, Oct. 21, at 1518 Mulberry Ave. (The clinic is connected to UnityPoint Health-Trinity Muscatine hospital.) “This building shows […]
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MUSCATINE, Iowa – An expanded and renewed $20 million health clinic is almost ready to reopen in this community.The Mulberry Health Clinic – officially known as UnityPoint Clinic-Mulberry – is scheduled to fully open on Monday, Oct. 21, at 1518 Mulberry Ave. (The clinic is connected to UnityPoint Health-Trinity Muscatine hospital.)
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A ribbon-cutting ceremony is held for the new clinic.
Caitlin Russell, president of the Davenport-based Russell, talks at Thursday's ceremony.
This is a scene from inside the new clinic.
Charla Schafer, president of the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine, welcomes guests to a celebration in honor of the new UnityPoint Mulberry Health Clinic. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
The new UnityPoint Clinic-Mulberry in Muscatine, Iowa, is scheduled to fully open on Monday, Oct. 21. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
Visitors tour the new $20 million UnityPoint Mulberry Health Clinic in Muscatine on Thursday, Oct. 3. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
The new UnityPoint Clinic-Mulberry in Muscatine, Iowa, is scheduled to fully open on Monday, Oct. 21. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
“This building shows that when a community comes together, it is truly unstoppable,” Charla Schafer, president of the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine, said during the clinic’s grand opening celebration Thursday, Oct 3. (The Community Foundation is the owner of the clinic.)The event, which attracted about 100 people, included a ribbon-cutting ceremony, tours of the new medical building and gift give-aways to the crowd.It also included many words of praise from the people and groups who supported construction of the new Mulberry Clinic.“We received many notes of support (for the new clinic) from doctors. Of course, we couldn’t read their writing. But, we believe that that’s what they said,” Ms. Schafer joked during the grand opening ceremony.Others praised the updated clinic because it will help the community and its residents. It will be convenient, more efficient for patients, and will better accommodate a growing number of providers. With its connection to UnityPoint, the clinic also will provide easy access for patients, reduce transportation barriers, and allow for more collaborative care between the clinic and hospital. Its proximity also allows for easy and seamless access to the hospital’s lab, radiology, and inpatient services, several speakers on Thursday said.Ms. Schafer said the new Mulberry clinic is a “community-inspired building” because of all that support.Rich Dwyer, board chairman of the Community Foundation, said in addition to helping keep people healthy, the new Mulberry Health Clinic will boost the local economy. That’s because new, state-of-the-art health facilities often attract new businesses and more jobs to a community, he added.Here is a look at the clinic:
Size: 42,000 square feet. This includes three floors, 71 exam rooms, 25 provider offices and five treatment rooms. Several speakers pointed out how the clinic was built with future expansion in mind. More features, offices and equipment can be added in the future if needed.
Employees: At full staff, the clinic will have about 70 health care workers. This includes about 50 UnityPoint team members and 20 medical providers.
Departments: The six departments include: internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN, multi-specialty and surgery.
Owner and operator: The clinic is owned by the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine, operated by UnityPoint Clinic, and connected to UnityPoint Health-Trinity Muscatine hospital.
Construction hours: Work crews from the general contractor, Russell, put in about 57,000 hours on the project, Caitlin Russell, president of the Davenport-based Russell, said at the celebration. She added that the opening of the clinic is actually a sad time for Russell workers because it means work is ending on a project that Russell employees deeply enjoyed for the past year or so.
Hours: Once open, the clinic hours will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. It will be closed on weekends.
Brief history: Community leaders launched the Muscatine Community Health Foundation in 1974 to maintain strong local health care. The original Mulberry Health Clinic was built in 1975. Construction of the new clinic began in the summer of 2023. It was built on the old clinic’s 30,000-square-foot footprint. A topping out ceremony for the new clinic was held last December.
Tours of the building
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, community members were invited to tour the facility, which is still a work in progress.While it appears the clinic is almost ready for patients, there is still work to do. For instance, visitors saw chairs in waiting areas still covered in plastic material, keys were taped to desks, and white sheets of papers were taped to doors to inform contractors and other workers of a specific office location.Visitors also saw that each floor of the new clinic will have two departments. Signs and different colors on the walls help separate the departments on each floor. For instance, many of the walls on the first floor are painted purple in the surgery department’s section of the building.“I like those wall colors because purple is my favorite color. … This whole place is just really stunning looking,” said Jenna Grizzle of Woodhull, Illinois, who attended the celebration and toured the new clinic on Thursday.Ms. Schafer said she was pleased many people toured the clinic and liked what they saw. That’s because it has been the public’s support that turned a dream of a new clinic into reality.“Good intentions did not shepherd this project across the finish line. … Your support did,” Ms. Schafer added.
