Virtua Camden Health & Wellness Center – Healthcare Beyond Hospitals and Medicine

On Jul 9, 2019

Virtua has provided reliable healthcare for children and families in Camden for more than a century. But with an emergent need for better access to high quality care and healthy living necessities like fresh fruits and vegetables, Virtua is transforming healthcare in Camden and South Jersey with its new Camden Health & Wellness Center (CHWC). The CHWC is a comprehensive, one-stop facility that improves community access to affordable, primary, pediatric, dental, behavioral health, podiatry and specialty care, as well as physical therapy, laboratory services and education.

To increase access to health services, the primary-care practice offers evening hours, which helps to divert non-urgent visits from local emergency departments and provides convenient hours for patients whose work schedules prevent them from scheduling appointments during typical 9-5 business hours. And as the Center offers integrated behavioral health services, patients can schedule appointments with related specialists within the same building.

The CHWC also includes a USDA-designated food pantry that offers fresh produce and shelf-stable foods, nutritional counseling, and social support services for the community. The CHWC neighborhood is considered a “food desert,” with limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthful whole foods due to a lack of grocery stores, farmers’ markets and other healthy food providers. Clinicians help patients manage diet-related chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity and chronic heart failure through their use of the food pantry.

The state-of-the-art Center incorporates 34,500 square feet of mixed-use space and represents a $26-million investment along an underutilized stretch in the Mount Ephraim community, re-establishing the area as a neighborhood commercial corridor. The building hugs the street edge, encouraging pedestrian access, and is designed to emulate the scale of neighboring row houses. While current employees hold many of the Center’s 31 full- and 22 part-time positions, additional staff and specialists rotate through to serve patients. The project created approximately 315 construction jobs (68,730 man hours).

OWNER

Virtua Health
Camden

ARCHITECT

Stantec
Philadelphia, PA

BUILDER

Turner Construction
Philadelphia, PA

NOMINATOR

Gregory Mayers, MPH
Manager, Community Health
Virtua Health
Camden

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