An infusion of state and federal money will allow Heartland Health Services to upgrade its equipment, operations, and buildings.
CEO Sharon Adams said in addition to $750 million dollars from the state aimed at better serving Medicaid patients, more than $4 million dollars in COVID relief funds from the American Rescue Plan will also go to immediate use for the federally-qualified health care provider.
"One of the uses of this that we've wanted to do for some time is home-monitoring equipment for our patients," Adams said.
Adams said that home monitoring will be targeted specifically at patients with diabetes and hypertension, two of the most significant and common health problems Heartland Health Services treats.
The Garden Street clinic in South Peoria is also due for some significant overhauls.
"Our plan is to do some remodeling and updating of this clinic, which would include the exam rooms, bathrooms, flooring, lighting, (and) painting," Adams said.
Heartland Health Services operates clinics in Peoria and Pekin.
Plans for Wisconsin shopping center include new parking lot, façade updates
Separately, Heartland Health Services also has plans ongoing for the shopping plaza on Wisconsin Avenue where their East Bluff clinic is currently located.
Adams said they want to make the building more attractive to potential new tenants.
"In the next couple weeks, we are redoing the parking lot, the sidewalks, putting more green space in the parking lot," Adams said. "And then in the spring, because I don't think we'll probably get it done, we will be doing the front façade of the building."
The East Bluff neighborhood is now considered a food desert after Kroger closed up its Wisconsin Avenue location in 2018.
Adams said Heartland is trying to attract a new grocer to the area to fulfill that need, but she said that's proven difficult.
"It has been challenging to find someone, a grocer, to come in there. It has been challenging, but we continue to look, because that is one of the needs in the East Bluff," she said.
The East Bluff and South Side became food deserts after Kroger stores closed in those parts of Peoria. A new locally-owned grocery store is expected to open in the former South Peoria Save-A-Lot location on Western Avenue early next year.
