By Cheryl Powell, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio
Jun. 1–Whether they’re trying to stay healthy or they need quick treatment when medical problems strike, residents of northern Summit County now have a new option closer to home.
Akron General Medical Center is unveiling its Health & Wellness Center-North, located in a highly visible spot off state Route 8 near Steels Corners Road in Stow.
The medical-fitness-center portion of the new, $32 million facility will open to members next week following a private, invitation-only ribbon-cutting event on Wednesday night.
The fitness and wellness programs in the 97,000-square-foot building are modeled after those at Akron General’s popular medical fitness center in Bath Township, known as Health & Wellness Center-West.
But unlike the Montrose-area facility, the Stow location also will offer a 24-hour branch of Akron General’s emergency department, set to open in early July.
The project will bring quicker and better access to care for people in northern Summit County, said Alan Bleyer, Akron General’s president and chief executive.
“That’s part of the plan — to make it as convenient as possible,” Bleyer said.
Stow Mayor Karen Fritschel called the project “a great plus” for the community.
Akron General already has worked with the city to launch a communitywide exercise program and has offered one of the three pools at the new center for use by the Stow-Munroe Falls High School swim team.
“I’m looking forward to so many people participating in a healthy lifestyle,” Fritschel said.
The new facility is targeting customers in Stow and surrounding communities, including Hudson, Cuyahoga Falls, Boston Heights, Tallmadge, Munroe Falls, Peninsula and Twinsburg.
The hospital is the latest health care provider to invest in Summit County’s growing, affluent northern tier, where residents often split their allegiance between hospitals in Akron and the Cleveland area.
University Hospitals and the Cleveland Clinic both are moving forward with outpatient facilities in nearby Twinsburg.
And two years ago, Akron General’s rival, Summa Health System, teamed up with Akron Children’s Hospital to open an outpatient facility in Hudson.
The portion of the facility run by Children’s includes diagnostic testing, doctors’ offices and an after-hours branch of its emergency department that’s staffed from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. on weekends and from 4 p.m. until 11 p.m. on weekdays.
Summa is scheduled to open a 65,000-square-foot medical fitness center — called Summa Wellness Institute — in September at part of the Hudson facility.
Memberships available
Akron General Health & Wellness Center-North already has sold about 1,300 memberships, said Doug Ribley, Akron General’s vice president for health and wellness services.
The Akron General Health & Wellness Center-West in Bath Township opened in 1996 and has 9,000 members.
The Stow facility will be able to accommodate as many as 8,000 members, who each will receive an initial medical assessment and access to all-new equipment and programs developed by medical professionals, Ribley said.
“There really is medical supervision, and that’s the key difference,” he said.
Members pay a one-time fee ranging from $275 for individuals to $350 for families and monthly fees of $53 to $107.
Memberships include access to both locations.
The new facility also is marketing sports performance enhancement programs, a service that isn’t offered yet at the Bath Township location.
Emergency facility
The other new feature — the branch emergency room — will be staffed around the clock by emergency medicine doctors.
The 13-bed ER will be able to handle medical emergencies for children and adults, with the exception of serious trauma injuries requiring surgery, said Dr. Scott Felten, medical director for the new emergency department.
The Stow branch will accept walk-in patients as well as those transported by ambulances, he said. People who need inpatient care or surgery will be transferred by a private ambulance company to Akron.
Felten expects the Stow location to treat about 18,000 patients annually.
“Some of those 18,000 will be people who never used Akron General before who are choosing to come to this facility because it’s closer to them,” he said.
The new facility also will have an MRI, CT scanner, X-ray machines and laboratory services that are relocating from a nearby center in Hudson.
In the future, the Stow location could offer after-hours appointments for diagnostic tests, said Bleyer, the Akron General president.
The memberships and services are expected to bring in enough money to pay for the $32 million investment within nine years, Bleyer said.
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or [email protected].
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