Work on Avon Clinic Nears Completion

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

Work on Cleveland’s Avon Family Health & Surgery Center is nearing completion. Soon, the $97.9 million will be finished and will be able to receive patients. Dr. Joseph Knapp, medical director of the Westlake Family Health Center, has been in charge of the project since its beginning in 2008.

The center is located on Just Imagine Drive. It  is a state-of-the-art facility that will provide primary-care services and more than 30 specialty services. The 190,000-square-foot facility is equiped with a helipad, pharmacy, on-site laboratory and conference facilities and will also include a large physical therapy area with two pools for aquatic therapy, an ambulatory surgery center and a 24-hour emergency room.  Glass walls will help patients navigate the health center while making sure they will not become disoriented when trying to find their car.

Each of the center’s four floors focuses on multiple types of care. The first floor houses a rehabilitation area with a full gym and two aquatic therapy pools as well as a small cafe and a gift shop where clients can wait for their loved ones. Cardiology, general surgery and other services are located on the second floor, while the third floor is home to neurology, plastic surgery and dermatology. The fourth floor houses geriatrics, pediatric specialties and family medicine. With 150 exam rooms and 80 physicians, Dr. Knapp expects the center to see more than 300,000 patients per year. More than 10,000 patient surgeries will be performed annually.

The center’s 24-hour emergency department will only open after work on the city’s Nagel Road interchange is completed, in the first quarter of 2013. When finished, the Avon center will bring 400 jobs to the city and generate approximately $1 million in city and state taxes annually.

The Avon Family Health and Surgery Center is set to open on Dec. 5.