LOCK HAVEN, Pa. -- A second Geisinger medical clinic is coming to Clinton County.
Officials from Geisinger and Highmark Health broke ground Thursday on what will soon be the new two-story care facility in Lock Haven.
The location in Lock Haven was once filled with ball fields and townhomes but soon it will be the site of the brand-new medical clinic. Representatives from Geisinger and Highmark Health broke ground on the project that is scheduled to be finished in the spring of 2021.
"We've always had a clinic presence here, but when we think about what can we do to expand services in a way that helps care stay local, we know that one of the ways we can do that is by bringing more services to the community," said Jaewon Ryu, president and CEO of Geisinger.
"When we first announced the Highmark/Geisinger joint venture, building new facilities like this medical clinic was an important element of what we were trying to do to bring care into the community and keep people closer to home," said Highmark Health vice president Karen Hanlon.
This will become the second Geisinger medical clinic in Lock Haven, and unlike the first one, the new medical clinic will include an urgent care facility.
The new facility will also offer adult and pediatric primary care along with imaging and lab services.
The medical center is just one piece of Geisinger's current expansion project.
"We're jointly investing over $100 million into the area, not just Lock Haven but this north-central Pennsylvania area to bring innovative models of care delivery just like we at Geisinger have been doing for over a century now," Ryu said.
Rick Conklin has been a part of the Lock Haven city council for over a decade. Conklin told Newswatch 16 that the medical center is a big step forward for the area.
"It means something to us to have the property developed and have people using this property so that we don't have empty property sitting around that's just not of any value to the city," Conklin said.
Geisinger officials say the start of construction will depend on the upcoming winter but the project should be done by early 2021.