It may not be the biggest facility Canton-based Graham Health System operates, but it might be the one the CEO is most proud of so far.
Graham’s new primary care clinic in part of the former Galesburg Rescue Mission facility on East Third Street is now officially open. The Galesburg-Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday.
Graham CEO Bob Senneff says he is proud of the facility because of what it does.
“Even though it’s not fancy bricks and mortar, and it’s not a $10 million building like we’re building on the north side of town, this is really filling a gap that’s been a void forever, probably,” said Senneff. “Folks down in this part of the city haven’t had medical care, or convenient care.”
Senneff says the building in question was a “donation” to Graham from the Benedict Family Foundation, but was in reality offered to them at about a third of what it could have been priced at had it been put on the real estate market.
Senneff says his medical group is becoming important to the whole region, not just Galesburg.
“We’re up to about 850 employees. That will be 900 relatively soon,” said Senneff. “There is a need to continue to grow, and we like to have health care controlled locally, so have local people involved.”
On Monday, Senneff, as he has before, brought up the demise of Galesburg Cottage Hospital, saying that what Cottage did to the Galesburg community was “criminal.”
Graham’s new wound care clinic on North Seminary Street is also opening as of Monday, while its campus between Seminary and Carl Sandburg Drive remains under construction.
