Work begins on major MercyOne Genesis Eldridge expansion

ELDRIDGE, Iowa – MercyOne Genesis broke ground today on a 7,669-square-foot extension of its Eldridge Family Medicine location designed to allow health care providers to better serve this growing community northwest of Davenport. The location at 301 N. Fourth Ave., which includes MercyOne Eldridge Family Medicine, Convenient Care, Imaging & Laboratory, has experienced a decade […]

ELDRIDGE, Iowa – MercyOne Genesis broke ground today on a 7,669-square-foot extension of its Eldridge Family Medicine location designed to allow health care providers to better serve this growing community northwest of Davenport.

The location at 301 N. Fourth Ave., which includes MercyOne Eldridge Family Medicine, Convenient Care, Imaging & Laboratory, has experienced a decade of growth that shows no sign of slowing, leaders said during the Wednesday, Dec. 4, event here. The project itself has been a long time in the making. “Our Convenient Care opened here in 2020 and it’s been continuing to grow and we’re out of space and need more room to make sure that we can meet the needs of the community,” Beau Dexter, senior vice president of operations for MercyOne Medical Group, told the QCBJ just before project leaders grabbed shovels to signal the startup of construction. “I know we’ve been talking about this for many, many years so it’s really exciting to have this come to life,” he told a crowd of about 30 leaders and media gathered on a bright, blustery morning.  “Construction will start immediately; that's why you’re all here,” he said. “We would have loved to have this in 75 degree weather but here we are and construction starts immediately then we’ll complete next summer with Build to Suit.” MercyOne Genesis isn’t releasing the cost of the expansion, he told the QCBJ “but the good news is it does bring additional physicians, and with that comes additional clinical staff, nursing staff, laboratory support.” 

New doctors coming

Over time, four physicians are expected to be added to the Eldridge Family Medical Center and “right now we’re looking at at least six additional positions for support staff,” Mr. Dexter said. Leading off Wednesday’s groundbreaking was Jordan Voigt, president of the Eastern Iowa Division, MercyOne. He said since its inception, MercyOne Genesis Eldridge Family Medicine has cared for more than 10,000 patients and recorded more than 38,000 annual clinic visits and 7,860 Convenient Care visits. He said demand for services is expected to continue to grow.

Mayor Frank King told the crowd he “is very excited to hear the announcement of this expansion that has been in the works for a couple of years now.” And he pledged Eldridge would do whatever it could to fast forward completion of this much-needed project.   “Eldridge has had a longtime relationship with Genesis which has provided our health care out here and the Express Care for the city of Eldridge and the surrounding areas and all of the other towns around Eldridge,” he said. “The citizens and those other towns around us all have been able to (come) here without having to go into the city of Davenport and Bettendorf for health care. “ He later told the QCBJ that the ongoing “controlled growth” of this city of some 7,200 residents has been “amazing” and added, “Eldridge is lucky. We’ve got just about everything.”

Facility nearing capacity

Soon that will include more health care opportunities at a critical health care facility that is about at full capacity right now and the area already has begun experiencing a shortage of doctors, which is forcing some residents to use express care instead, the mayor said. The upcoming addition of four new providers is expected to help, and Mr. King said he’s also heard that number could grow to as many as six new doctors over time.  In the near term, the current extension project that kicked off today will bring 13 new exam rooms, new offices, two procedure rooms, an expanded laboratory and a larger convenient care to a location. It also will be staffed initially by two physicians from MercyOne Genesis’ own residency program who have already been signed to join the expanded Eldridge location sometime after the project is complete in the summer of 2025.