MADAWASKA, Maine – Fish River Rural Health’s new 30,000 square foot, two-story health center will meet a growing health care demand in the area by expanding on services offered at their current Saint Thomas Street location.
Fish River Rural Health has three facilities throughout the St. John Valley. They have health centers in Madawaska, Eagle Lake and Fort Kent. And because of their distinction as a federally qualified health center, they offer a sliding fee discount program based on family size and income. They also operate a health education and training center and school-based health services at all seven St. John Valley school campuses.
The health center offers numerous services ranging from family medical, dental, optometry, and behavioral health counseling to osteopathic manipulation therapy, wellness programming, RN care management, and chiropractic services.
The new facility. will help Fish River address a growing need in Madawaska. The health center has seen a 31 percent increase in patients since COVID-19. The practice first opened in 2017 as a part-time facility. It transitioned to a full-time facility in July of 2019. And have since expanded into every available space at the property they’re leasing.
The new clinic will be located at Madawaska’s midtown plaza.
Work on the $14 million dollar project began last month. The lead contractor is Devoe Construction. Harriman is the architecture and engineering firm behind the project.
Fish River Rural Health CEO Heather Pelletier said the larger space will allow them to see more patients and have a stronger workflow.
Some of the current facility’s services, like optometry, need more exam rooms to meet patient needs.
“If you’re a patient that needs to be dilated, we have to dilate you and then we escort you back to the lobby to wait,” Pelletier said of the existing clinic’s optometry services. “We scrub the room. And we take in the next patient. We’re sort of trading patients in a single operatory because there’s not enough room to practice to the demand that we have.”
In addition to more exam rooms, other expanded services will include additional health care providers and a pandemic-ready design that includes an isolation suite.
Pelletier said the staff is also excited about the new project.
“They’ve been very patient,” she said. “And they’re definitely committed to the mission to serve our population and the St. John Valley.”
The town of Madawaska recently received a $2 million federal grant to help with projects at the midtown plaza. The grant will pay for infrastructure improvements, including water and sewer work, at the plaza.
“That’s certainly a huge help,” Pelletier said, “having new water and sewer lines versus the existing lines, because they were considerably aged.”
The project has a two-year timeline, and officials hope that the ground work will be finished before the winter freeze.
“We’re working with concrete, so as it gets colder we are going to have to defer it for the spring,” Pelletier said. “But the plan right now is to go as long as we can until the snow flies.”
