The Ottawa YMCA and OSF HealthCare Saint Elizabeth Medical Center are excited to announce a unique, local partnership agreement to achieve a common goal of improving the health and wellness of Ottawa and surrounding communities.
As part of the partnership, OSF HealthCare is providing a substantial community benefit grant to assist with building the Ottawa YMCA’s new health and wellness facility slated for Ottawa’s riverfront. Once completed, this proposed state-of-the-art, full-service wellness center encompassing about 65,000 square feet will feature a world-class competition pool, generous spaces for group classes, community kitchen for healthy eating, children adventure center, family locker rooms, elevated indoor track, multi-use gymnasium, and much more.
“The vision the Ottawa YMCA and our volunteer board has for this project is a modern, healthy-living campus,” said Joe Capece, YMCA executive director. “It’s a bold vision for us to collaborate with a health care partner like OSF HealthCare that will transform the health and well-being of the communities we serve together, for generations.”
“As we continue to address the social determinants of health, we look for innovative approaches to serving our community, where and when they need us most,” stated Ken Beutke, president of OSF Saint Elizabeth. “This collaboration allows us to forge a new, long-term relationship with the Ottawa YMCA while simultaneously working to improve the health and wellness of our communities, making a lasting impact.”
Additionally, the Ottawa YMCA and OSF HealthCare will form a joint committee that will focus on sharing space and developing community health and wellness initiatives, such as chronic disease prevention; cooperatively identified pediatric services; healthy eating and weight management and mental health initiatives; youth athletic programs; and more.
“This new facility we are currently developing is really transformational,” said Capece. “We share the same vision and mission of community wellness as OSF. We use the term ‘medically integrated wellness programs.’ We create one facility and we do it together.”
OSF HealthCare will occupy roughly 9,000 square feet of the center for physical, speech and occupational therapies.
“We look at the shared use between our organizations as prevention, treatment and long-term usage,” said Capece. “People come to the Y to prevent health care issues. But if they do have issues, they walk next door for treatment and then return to the Y for their long-term care. This natural partnership makes a lot of sense and brings a great deal of credibility to the project.”