The grand opening has been held for Corewell Health’s new Corewell Health Center for Wellness in Benton Harbor.
The new 24,000 square foot facility at 133 West Main will give Benton Harbor residents a chance to receive health services without having to leave the community. Corewell Director for Health Equity Nicki Britten tells us the center has four main focuses.
“The first one is hypertension. Then we’ve got health-related social needs. These are things like housing, utility assistance, food insecurity, jobs, all of these things that come up in life that can have an impact on our health outcomes. And then we also focus on maternal infant health and mental wellness and social cohesion.”
Corewell opened the first Center for Wellness in 2020 in a different building just across the street to help residents during the pandemic. It was such a success that when grant funds to operate the facility ran out, the decision was made to keep it open and move to a larger building. Construction on the new facility started began in January of last year.
Britten says prior to 2020, Corewell had a presence in Benton Harbor through partnerships.
“We didn’t have a physical presence, but we were very present in the community. We had a network of what we called neighborhood-based help homes where we had a consistent presence in different housing complexes, barber shops, any places that community members tend to gather.”
Now, Corewell can provide health services in Benton Harbor with a dedicated location. Britten said that comes with additional benefits.
“Even just being here and contributing to this downtown area, having the investment. We now have 20 new employees that are going out to lunch in the different areas. We’ve got more people that are driving in through the city, having a presence here. The revitalization of this Main Street corridor is just another significant way that the health system is contributing to the community.”
The new Center for Wellness is often serving residents who previously didn’t receive healthcare.
“We’ve been very intentional,” Britten said. “Our staff is much more reflective of the community and the patients that we serve in our target population. That really helps establish a level of comfort. We’ve also just been really intentional for the last decade of listening a lot more to our community, understanding what they want and need.”
The new Corewell Health Center for Wellness will offer health screenings, hypertension care, mental health counseling and maternal infant health programming. It’s also offering lifestyle services like cooking classes, education space, and room for physical education.
