New $18M clinic planned for Cathedral Square area in downtown Grand Rapids

Cherry Street Health Services, Touchstone innovare, and Proaction Behavioral Health Alliance are looking to launch a new clinic near the Cathedral Square area in Grand Rapids with the help of federal stimulus money.

According to excerpts from the story:

Three nonprofit health care agencies are planning to join forces in a new $18 million clinic at the north edge of downtown's Cathedral Square.

The agencies hope their combined service means clients who need more than one of their offerings will get better care.

Three Grand Rapids nonprofit agencies hope to combine services in a new downtown clinic:

• Cherry Street Health Services: Provides primary health care and dental services to low-income children and families from 11 Grand Rapids area locations.
• Touchstone innovare: Offers out-patient treatment and rehabilitative services mainly to adults suffering from serious mental illness and co-occurring disorders.
• Proaction Behavioral Health Alliance: Treats substance abuse and addictions through Project Rehab and Life Guidance Services.

The new clinic would be in what now is a parking lot across the street from Touchstone's current headquarters at 201 Sheldon Ave. SE.

Down the road, the new health center could result in a merger of the three nonprofit agencies, they said.

For now, they are hoping to get the project under way quickly to take advantage of federal stimulus money for which Cherry Street Health Services may qualify.

The three agencies hope to get the project "shovel-ready" and break ground this fall so it can open by late 2010.

Read the complete story here.