Bend apartments’ old laundry room now clinic

From the inside, Mosaic Medical’s newest clinic in southeast Bend is small –500 square feet –but still looks pretty typical: exam rooms and medical supplies.

Head outside, though, and you’ll see it’s not so ordinary: The clinic is housed in an apartment complex — in an old laundry room, to be exact.

It took about $50,000 to upgrade the room from a place holding washing machines to a room fit for medical care.

There are two exam rooms, and another room that doubles as an office for clinicians and a small lab.

A couple dozen people gathered at Ariel Glen Apartments Tuesday to celebrate that accomplishment and more.

The clinic is the first of its kind in the region, but it’s really the result of a bigger endeavor — a nearly $12 million project renovating and upgrading the low-income apartments at Ariel Glen and nearby Healy Heights.

The project was funded by community partners, including PNC Real Estate, and was spearheaded by Housing Works. Mosaic Medical put in about $20,000 in supplies and equipment for the new clinic.

The renovations included new sidings, paint on the buildings and remodeling of the individual units. Each apartment also was outfitted with washing machines and dryers, so the complex’s laundry room was no longer necessary.

“We’ll be providing well-women exams, regular physical exams, wellness visits, sickness visits,” said the clinic’s resident nurse practitioner, Lisa Gladden.

The effort to bring the medicine to the patient is a way health care experts hope to change care by improving access.

“A lot of them don’t have access to vehicles and have been dependent on the busing system,” Gladden said. “And that can be difficult on scheduling things and hard for kids in school.”

Resident Marta Harris said because she is an amputee, most of her medical visits are to specialty doctors. Still, she said she likes the idea of having a clinic right at home and will use it for emergencies.

“There’s times I’ve fallen and been hurt, and I needed right away to see a doctor, and I couldn’t,” Harris said. “And possibly now, if that happens, I can see somebody here right away.”

Besides Gladden, the new care team includes a medical assistant and clinical coordinator. The clinic is expected to serve the roughly 140 residents and families that live in the apartment community, but it also will be open to the public.

Gladden hopes the clinic can eventually expand to also offer educational community events like cooking classes, movie nights, and fitness tips and groups.

The clinic will see its first patients Thursday at 11 a.m.

It will be open Mondays and Tuesdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.