Courtesy Middle Park Health
As part of Middle Park Health’s continued expansion to meet the growing needs in Grand County, it opened its Grand Lake clinic last week.
The Middle Park Health – Grand Lake Campus, located in the Grand Lake Center, is a primary care clinic that fills a gap in the community which previously didn’t have non-emergent health care. The grand opening took place on the evening of June 21, meaning the clinic is officially open for business four days a week.
“There’s been a really consistently increasing demand,” said Dr. Mark Paulsen, the primary practicing physician at the clinic. “There’s a lot of enthusiasm we’re hearing from the community.”
The clinic will be serviced by Paulsen one day a week and three days a week by Diane Wettersten, a physician’s assistant for the hospital. Middle Park Health is also partnering with the Grand Lake Fire Department to hire a full-time paramedic.
“They will be working in the primary care clinic helping us do regular clinic care, but will also have a pager and respond to 911 medical emergencies from the clinic,” he explained.
The clinic will offer services similar to those offered at the Middle Park Health-Winter Park Campus to include X-rays, laboratory work and primary care services.
Paulsen said that though the clinic has only been open for a week, his schedule was full and there seems to be a lot of community enthusiasm.
Ultimately, the Grand Lake clinic fits into the hospital’s larger expansion plan by helping to alleviate some of the need for space and to be more accessible to more county residents.
“We’re trying to meet the needs of communities everywhere in the county,” Paulsen said. “This gives us an opportunity to have some more space, be able to see the volume of patients we need to see and spread some of the load from Granby.”
Once the clinic gets fully staffed, Paulsen said they hope to begin offering Saturday walk-in hours or even be open five or six days a week.
The Grand Lake clinic is the second new location Middle Park Health has opened up this summer, including the new Kremmling Wellness Center.