A new primary care center for adults on Medicare is open for business.

Oak Street Health opened a new location in Moline, with plans to expand in Davenport in the near future. Oak Street Health says they hope to provide to underserved community members in Moline, and provide greater healthcare access to the area’s largest Spanish speaking community.

Michele Mitchell is Executive Medical Director for Oak Street Health. She spoke with Our Quad Cities News about the planning process for setting up shop in the Quad Cities. “We’re looking where we have a high density of Medicare eligible patients, as well as communities that need better access to primary care,” Mitchell said. “When we’ve looked at the Quad City Area, there’s definitely the density of patients, but there’s also the dearth of primary care there. So patients that really would be benefitted from having increased access to primary care.”

The center will provide services including personalized wellness plans and integrated health services. “The new center will have a primary care provider that will be able to do well visits for patients,” Mitchell said. “They’ll also be able to do laboratory studies in there, with EKG’s, spirometry, so checking for breathing.”

Michelle Dyer, the Senior Services Director for the Rock Island County Senior Center, says she hopes more care services, and businesses cater to the elder population. “Seniors are a growing population,” Dyer said. “We’re eventually all going to get to be seniors at one time, so we need to focus on providing them the services that they need to be successful in the community.”

The Rock Island County Senior Center provides meal services, group outings and help with Medicare for seniors needing assistance. “We’re seeing a steadily increase in numbers of people coming in,” Dyer said. “Which that’s what we’re here for, and that’s our purpose. So we want to see as many people as we can as long as we can help you.”