Rockwood Clinic PS, of Spokane, has started renovating a 4,800-square-foot space in a strip mall in Spokane Valley and plans to open a primary care clinic there, Rockwood Chief Operating Officer Greg Repetti says.

The total cost to renovate the space, located at 13221 E. 32nd in the former spaces of Coach’s Pizza and Salon Tonya, and to equip the clinic is about $800,000, Repetti says. Associated Construction Inc., of Spokane, is doing the renovations, he says, and Dallas, Texas-based Ascension Group Inc. designed the space. 

Also located in the same strip mall is an Edward D. Jones & Co.  financial advising office and new pizza restaurant called Brother’s Office Pizza. 

The facility is currently scheduled to open May 17, he says. The company finalized its lease of the space from building owner B.I.T.M. LLC last fall, Repetti says, and began construction on the space after the first of the year. 

The clinic is planned to be a primary care and family medicine facility, Repetti says. It will have an X-ray machine and the capability to do basic lab tests, he says. 

“All the more complex stuff will be sent to the (Rockwood) clinic downtown or Valley Hospital,” he says. 

Family practitioner Dr. Glen Volyn will work at the south Valley clinic. Additional staff expected to be hired include a nurse practitioner, two medical assistants, a receptionist, and a scheduler. More staff will be added as demand requires, Repetti says.

“If Dr. Volyn and the nurse practitioner, who we’re in the process of recruiting, get busy quickly, we’ll hire quickly. If they don’t, we’ll add as volume demands,” he says.

The space is being designed to accommodate two additional doctors and their staffs in the future.

Rockwood decided to open a clinic in that location to fill an unmet need in that area, Repetti says. 

“When we looked at the demographics of the Valley, we felt pretty strongly that southern location, with its proximity to U-High and community south of 32nd Street, was underserved,” Repetti says. “We wanted to put a quality Rockwood presence where we felt it was needed, and make it easier for patients to get primary care without having to go to our Sprague location or Valley Hospital. It’s a more convenient spot for that micro-region.”