The new transportation center is located adjacent to the OSF Center for Health-Streator. It will house four ambulances and the OSF King Care-A0Van, seen parked outside. (The Catholic Post/Tom Dermody)

STREATOR — With gratitude to the generous donors who supported its construction and to OSF HealthCare for its commitment to this community and region, a new transportation center was blessed Nov. 13 adjacent to the OSF Center for Health-Streator.

The 6,600-square-foot transportation center is part of a new approach to rural health care delivery being piloted by OSF in Streator. It will be a base for four ambulances as well as the OSF King Care-A-Van, which brings services and screenings to the most vulnerable in the area’s rural region.

Father Michael Driscoll blesses the spacious interior of the new transportation center during ceremonies in Streator on Nov. 13. (The Catholic Post/Tom Dermody)

“We are excited to begin to utilize this new resource,” said Don Damron, vice president of Ambulatory Services for OSF HealthCare Saint Elizabeth Medical Center in nearby Ottawa. The center, he said, helps meet requirements for the freestanding emergency center at the OSF Center for Health-Streator.

Because of pandemic restrictions, the blessing ceremony was done in part virtually and broadcast via livestream. Sister Rose Therese Mann of the OSF HealthCare Foundation Board offered the opening prayer remotely. The few in-person witnesses included nine members of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George, who were passing through town that day on pilgrimage.

The blessing was done by Father Michael Driscoll, chaplain at OSF HealthCare Saint Elizabeth Medical Center in Ottawa, who prayed for both those who work in the facility and the patients they will serve.

NEW CLINIC OPENS IN SAVOY

Meanwhile, OSF HealthCare opened a new primary care clinic on Nov. 16 in Champaign County.

The 7,800-square-foot clinic, located at 501 N. Dunlap St. in Savoy, has nine exam rooms. Providing care will be Dr. Andrew Zasada and Flora Adams Williams, physician assistant. Both specialize in family medicine.

Services offered at the clinic will include general wellness exams, preventative care, treatment and management of chronic diseases, and care for patients with acute medical conditions.