Public invited to celebrate opening of new state-of-the-art health center on the East Side

This Saturday, community leaders will recognize University Health for answering the call to expand access to care to improve health and help break cycles of chronic disease in families living in Bexar County’s East Side communities.

The public is encouraged to join the celebration and take advantage of free health services at the all-new University Health Wheatley, the first of four new facilities in University Health’s unprecedented $1.7 billion investment in the health of the whole community.

The University Health Wheatley ribbon cutting and open house will be from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 16 at the new clinic, located on IH-10 access road at East Houston Street.
Activities include free flu shots, health screenings, art activities and tours. Drawings for door prizes will be held throughout the day. Attendees can also sign up for a chance to win a $500 HEB gift card (need not be present to win).

First major milestone in a historic expansion

University Health Wheatley is a one-story, 15,000-square-foot clinic at 3860 IH-10 East. It will offer primary care, walk-in urgent care 7 days a week, medical specialists, plus a full-service pharmacy, X-rays, ultrasound and laboratory services. It is also a location for the University Health Institute for Public health, which will offer a wide range of health classes and resources in partnership with many community organizations.

Wheatley is part of University Health’s unprecedented capital improvement program and the first of the program’s four big construction projects to be completed, to be followed soon by the University Health Vida health center on the South Side, University Health Palo Alto Hospital and Medical Office Building next to Vida, and University Health Retama Hospital and Medical Office Building on the Northeast Side. University Health also recently purchased a closed hospital in the medical center with plans to open it as University Health Babcock Specialty Hospital next year.

Wheatley will mark a huge step forward in expanding health care access in this historically underserved area, and a major realization of our mission to improve the good health of the entire community

Both the Wheatley and Vida health centers are coming to fruition thanks to the Bexar County Commissioners Court, which allocated $30 million from the American Recovery Plan Act – or ARPA – to support this important expansion of public health resources.

University Health and community leaders and elected officials will talk about delivering on this vision starting at 11:25 a.m., followed by a ribbon cutting and community open house.

Speakers:

University Health President & CEO Ed Banos
Bexar County Hospital District Board of Managers Secretary Dr. Margaret Kelley
Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai
State Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins
Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert

Ribbon Cutting and Tours begin after remarks