To extend its healthcare services and better support the Chesterton community, NorthShore Health Centers held its grand opening ceremony for its new Chesterton building on September 2, 2022, complete with confetti, goody bags, and dessert. The new building is located at 801 Broadway St. and is officially open to the public.
“It’s beautiful. Our building that we had before was much smaller,” said Quest Diagnostics Phlebotomist, Dimple Carrillo. “We were all close together, but with this facility, we have some more room. We’re going to have more people coming in for care and for jobs, and I think it will be good for the whole Chesterton area.”
The new building is 26,000 square feet, has 21 exam rooms, and offers more healthcare services, including pharmacy, chiropractic, optometry, and substance abuse treatment. This will allow the Chesterton community, especially the underserved and uninsured population, to receive all the help they need at one location.
“It's really exciting to see another health center in a place where it's greatly needed. They also have so many great services like chiropractic, vision, pharmacy, and dental. The patients don't have to go to several places to get all the information and all the services they need. They can get it all in one stop,” said Indiana Primary Health Care Association Value Transformation Program Director, Jasmine Page.
Indiana Primary Health Care Association has health centers all over the state, and Page is excited to see this smaller site grow to help supply and meet the needs of the community. NorthShore’s original site in Chesterton only held 9 exam rooms and limited parking for patients. With such a dramatic size difference, the location is now accessible to more patients than ever before.
“What this does is get access to individuals who are disconnected, and then when you do that, you increase the quality of life and drive change,” said Congressman Frank Mrvan. “To me, any type of access that we give to our community–when it comes to healthcare, when it comes to addiction and mental health–this facility will help change people's lives. It's probably already done that, and I'm very proud to be here today.”
Chesterton residents may recognize that the new building is located where Duneland Resale Shop previously had its store. Duneland Resale Shop is now located in the building next to the new NorthShore facility, and NorthShore Health Centers CEO, David Hall, shared that he is thrilled not only that Duneland Resale Shop Owner, Dan Johnston, allowed NorthShore to take up residence at his old store but that he was also happy to be part of the change.
“We were busting at the seams at our old location, and we have built stronger partnerships than when we first established in Chesterton. We worked with the Duneland Resale Shop, and Dan Johnston helped us significantly by getting this building, working with us, and donating to our pharmacy to provide more services,” Hall said.
Dan Johnston and his wife, Joy Johnston, enjoyed exploring the newly renovated property and identifying where the new building lined up with the setup of the old resale shop and reminiscing.
“My wife asked me a few minutes ago when we were in the pharmacy, ‘Where are we in the building?’ I said, ‘You're in the book section.’ As we moved down the way here on this side of the building, she said, ‘Where are we now?’ I said, ‘Well, right now we're in toys and then glassware and so on. We need a map,” Johnston said. “It's a pleasure to see what a wonderful job they did.”
With this strengthened presence in Chesterton, Hall and the NorthShore staff anticipate continued growth in the area.
“We're going to be able to benefit the community with synergies that we already have and the ones we're establishing to make a cohesive, healthy community,” Hall said.
For more information about NorthShore Health Centers, visit https://northshorehealth.org/.
