Visit the doctor, then see the dentist next door: Tri City Health Partnership acquires new medical building in St. Charles

The Tri City Health Partnership soon begins a new chapter in its 20-year existence when 314 Walnut St. in St. Charles officially becomes the clinic's medical building.

It will be next to the partnership's longtime main medical and dental building at 318 Walnut St. With the new facility in operation, 318 becomes the official dental building for the partnership's growing role as a provider of free medical and dental services for those unable to pay for services.

An anonymous donor made the purchase of 314 Walnut St. possible without a capital campaign. The target for opening the medical building is the middle of this month, at which time both buildings will offer two full exam rooms.

"I wish I could shout their names from the rooftops," Kim Lamansky, executive director of Tri City Health Partnership, said of the anonymous donor. "This has been a tough one to keep secret."

Years ago, the 314 building was the site of Fox Valley Grooming, a pet grooming business. More recently, it was an insurance office. Still, when construction work included putting in new ducts for the ventilation system, there was a reminder that dogs at one time ruled that roost.

"We were glad we removed that old ductwork," Lamansky said. "There was about 10 years of dog grooming hair inside of those ducts, and, as a medical clinic, it's not the best thing to be breathing that in and out."

Dr. John Mason, a dental director at the partnership along with Dr. Scott Dykes, is anxious to work in the extra space that will unfold in the 318 building because of medical operations moving to 314.

"The clinic has a fantastic staff along with a solid group of volunteers," Mason added. "It's just great when you think of downtown St. Charles and the social services in that block, and it is so well kept."

Mason, who also continues to work out of his practice on the east side of St. Charles, pointed to Lamansky and retired remodeling expert Bob McDowell as the drivers behind the extra building project.

When initial ideas to expand the 318 building, find a new location or completely tear down the site and rebuild didn't equate to the extra space the partnership needed, it was even more of a Godsend when the donor came forward to purchase the 314 building next door.

"Bob McDowell volunteered to be the project manager of this," Lamansky said. "There is no way this would have happened without him."

The partnership purchased a bench to honor McDowell for his efforts, to be placed on the front porch of the 314 medical building.

Dr. Sarah Kimber and Dr. Steve Holtsford serve as medical directors at the partnership.

In addition to an extra building, the partnership is also hoping to present its annual fundraiser this year after skipping the event last year because of COVID-19.

Though coronavirus still presents a challenge, the partnership has plans in place to bring back its Casino Night fundraiser on Nov. 13 at the Q Center in St. Charles.

Information about the clinic's services and the fundraising event is available at tchpfreeclinic.org.

Excellent 'Bean' concept

It's becoming fairly common for a library to have a coffee shop on-site.

The two naturally go together, so why let the franchised bookstores and independent shops have all of the fun?

But how many library operations offer coffee shop jobs to students who might otherwise have difficulty finding a place to work?

The Daily Bean located in the St. Charles Public Library recently opened, and it is operated through the District 303 Transition Program.

It's a great opportunity for these students to learn some business skills and how to deliver some tasty iced or hot coffee, tea and other beverages.

It gives these kids and the program a great lift when you buy some coffee while visiting the library. Daily Bean is open 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday.

East-side projects

Some Geneva residents are casting a wary eye on the CHI Acquisitions L.P. proposal for the Geneva Farms North distribution facility along Kirk Road.

It's mostly a concern about the number of trucks likely to be going in and out of the proposed 278,000-square-foot facility and 54-acre site.

Industrial use has been the key focus for Geneva's east side, so it will be interesting to see how that one plays out.

Still, there are likely to be many questions from plan commissioners about how many trucks will be active at the site during the morning and evening rush-hour periods.

The underlying reality is that Kirk Road has plenty of traffic already.

A dash to the car

Now that we have our first grandchild, with a second coming in a couple of months, you tend to reflect a bit on what it was like when your own child was born.

That happened for us on this Sept. 3 day in 1986 when our son was born at Delnor Hospital when it was located at 975 N. Fifth Ave., at what is now River Glen of St. Charles, a long-term and hospice care center.

It turned out to be a wonderful day, of course, but it had a few shaky moments - like when the doctor told us the baby's heart wasn't doing so great during retractions, so an emergency C-section was in order.

"Hey, wait, I don't have my camera with me. It's in the car," I said, thinking I didn't want to miss a photo of this major life event.

"You better go get it and - like, right now!" the doctor answered as they wheeled my wife off to her surgery.

So I took off at a speed one might reserve for a prison break. Being much quicker those 35 years ago, I dashed to my car and grabbed the camera. If someone told me it was clocked at more than a minute, I would have declared the timing device inaccurate. It had to be faster.

Not more than a few minutes later, it's hard to believe I didn't pass out during the whole thing. But I got the photos of our son's first seconds out of the womb - and my wife's relieved and smiling face when her son was suddenly in her arms.

My, how time flies. And, my, how much faster I could move back then.

dheun@sbcglobal.net