The three-story medical complex rising along Winnfield’s five-lane should be open by year’s end, Winn’s retired teachers heard during their monthly session May 19.
What launched as Winn Community Health Center with 5 employees in 2009 has grown into a healthcare operation covering seven parishes with nearly 500 employees, explained CEO Deano Thornton. Asked about the name “Trinity,” he replied that as the coverage area grew, an overall name of Trinity Community Health Centers of Louisiana was adopted, although each clinic retains the name of its specific parish.
With Thornton was Lisa Peddy Frontaura, a 2000 graduate of WSHS who was described in introduction as “the principal architect who oversees everything from the beginning of design to the end of construction and everything in between.” She is vice president of operations for TBA Studio.
The CEO and former Winnfield mayor told the retired teachers that his dream is to leave something lasting here in the community. Inspired by a saying by longtime educator Etoy Ashley, he noted, “Make your community better because you were part of it.”
When asked, he said cost of the project from the ground up is about $30 million, including $1 million in furniture. “I called Lisa and said I wanted to build this clinic. She is a Winn graduate and proud to be involved with this construction. She is young enough to do the IT work whereas I’m too old, more traditional.”
Frontaura confirmed, telling the gathering that she is happy to be here and part of this project. “When I was approached, I was glad to be giving back to this community.” Having worked on projects big and small over the 20 years of her career, she called this “the height of my activity.” In its design, she sought a façade that reflects the region’s forestry rather than simply a “white medical building.”
The audience seemed to enjoy descriptions of each of the three floors. Thornton continues to be proud of the escalators from the ground to second floor as well as the elevators, although if a patient ends up on the third, administrative floor, it’s only because they got lost, he said. First floor will contain primary care, clinic pharmacy, behavioral health, nurses’ station and x-ray.
Second floor will house optometry, dental care, physical therapy as well as a visual space to “look down” on the first floor plus an outdoor balcony. The third floor will have administration for the multi-parish clinics, billing, medical records, finance, IT, a kitchen and conference room large enough to seat 100 banquet-style.
The three-story was designed not just for patients but also employees so every floor has a break room for staff. About 125 people will work in the building daily. “My mission is to create jobs, not to farm things out.” Parking and access to the building with be ample, the visuals showed.
Since Trinity’s new center interfaces with the varied aspects of its services—clinic patients, school-based clients, pharmacy—he said the move could be in phases including school holidays to minimize service disruptions. He anticipates that move should be complete by the end of the year.
