DuPage Medical Group building opens Monday in Wheaton
Earth-toned walls, wood accents and calming photos of nature will welcome patients when the DuPage Medical Group building in downtown Wheaton opens Monday.
The group hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony and offered tours Thursday at the 40,000-square-foot, multi-specialty facility at 150 E. Willow Ave.
"It's a great day for us," said Dr. Paul Merrick, president of the DuPage Medical Group's board of directors. "Wheaton is a community that is very important for us. We have grown in other areas, but this is really the centerpiece of where we are and who we are and we want to continue to invest in the people who have invested in us."
The new building is located on the site of a former Jewel-Osco, which stood vacant for about five years after closing, officials said.
Mayor Michael Gresk said he hopes the hundreds of visitors who visit the new building will take time to buy lunch or do some shopping and errands in Wheaton before or after their appointments.
"You've taken a darkened site ... and you've turned it into a vibrant part of our downtown," he said.
DuPage Medical Group Chief Executive Officer Michael Kasper agreed that the group hopes to do more than just provide medical services.
"We're very interested in helping this community, not just from a health care perspective, but from a business perspective," he said. "Many jobs will be created as we grow within the community."
Services now offered at three existing DuPage Medical Group buildings in Wheaton will be rolled into the new building, said Chief Operating Officer Dennis Fine.
That includes a physical and occupational therapy office on South County Farm Road, an office with obstetrics and gynecology on Blanchard Circle and a family and internal medicine office on North Main Street.
Fine said the group won't be renewing the leases at those three offices. Most of the doctors will be moving to the new building on Willow Avenue.
"We consolidated that all together so patients, if they come here, can get their annual exam, get their lab work, if they're female, get their mammogram - all in one visit," he said. "It's a lot more convenient for them, whereas before, they had to go to multiple locations to get the services."
On the first floor, visitors with chronic conditions, such as diabetes or congestive heart failure, can visit the BreakThrough Care Center, where they can work with health coaches, a dietitian, a pharmacist and a social worker. There is also a space dedicated to physical therapy and occupational therapy.
Internal medicine and obstetrics and gynecology physicians are on the second floor, which includes a radiology suite with mammography services and an updated x-ray machine. Primary care is on the third floor.