Allen Hospital Opens C.F. Occupational Health Clinic
By Jens Manuel Krogstad, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa
Jan. 8–CEDAR FALLS — After more than 20 years at its east Waterloo location, Allen Hospital opened a new occupational health office this week at the Pinnacle Prairie development.
The occupational health clinic’s first satellite location will be full-service and aims to attract more business in the southwest Cedar Falls area, which includes Cedar Falls Industrial Park.
Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare already has a strong presence in the area after opening an office at Cedar Falls Industrial Park 18 months ago. It also has a clinic at Sartori Hospital. When its Arrowhead Medical Center at Pinnacle Prairie opens this spring, those two locations will be consolidated into the new medical center.
Wheaton Franciscan Health jumped in early by adding a clinic onto an existing distribution center at the industrial park because it identified the area as a strategic growth area, said Chris Hyers, vice president of business development for Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare.
“Proximity to employers, easy in and out are awfully important. We’ve done a lot of business with industrial clients that we’ve never done business with before,” Hyers said. “For DOT physicals, you go to Sartori hospital, where are you going to park that truck?”
Allen Hospital’s occupational health clinics are the oldest and biggest in the Cedar Valley. It opened its first clinic at Allen Hospital in 1985, and today staffs 40 people to serve 2,000 clients and more than 30,000 individuals, said Eric DeTemmerman, operations manager for Allen Occupational Health.
Dr. Laval Peloquin, who worked for 16 years as a family practice physician at Covenant Clinic in La Porte City, will lead Allen Hospital’s new occupational health clinic.
Some of the services typically offered by occupational health clinics are drug testing, pre-employment physicals and workplace injuries treatment. Employment drug testing, in particular, has been an area of growth for the clinic.
“We’ve really seen more and more companies doing drug testing,” DeTemmerman said.
Contact Jens Manuel Krogstad at (319) 291-1580 or jens.krogstad@wcfcourier.com.
—–
Copyright (c) 2007, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.