An expanded medical facility near Rita Ranch soon will allow far East Side residents to see a doctor without fighting city traffic.
Many more medical services will be provided beginning in March, when the newer, bigger Carondelet Medical Mall at Rita Ranch will open, said Andy Cosentino, an official with Carondelet Health Network.
The 12,600-square-foot facility at 8290 S. Houghton Road, is around the corner from an existing Carondelet office at 10222 E. Rita Road that has provided primary-care and other services since it opened in October 2003.
When the new facilities open in March, Carondelet will move the primary-care operation that had been offered at the Rita Road office, said Bev Reiman, a Carondelet spokeswoman.
Long Realty will open an office in that space, Reiman said.
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Cosentino, the company's administrator of ambulatory services and neurosciences development, said the newer, larger medical mall will offer many services that aren't available on the far East Side.
"We understand that the Southeast Side is a high-growth area, and we are committed to providing these services to the residents of the area," Cosentino said.
Colleen Kinstle, a Rita Ranch resident, said she'll appreciate having more medical services nearby for herself; her husband, Chuck; and their four kids.
Kinstle, a doula — a person trained to help women before and after childbirth — also hopes the new facility will provide opportunities for area residents who, like her, want to work in health care.
"I'm a prospective nursing student, so I hope I'll be able to complete my clinicals there — and maybe get a job there, when I get my R.N.," she said, referring to certification given to a registered nurse.
Cosentino said three doctors will work at the medical mall, which will provide primary and preventive care and services in orthopedics; obstetrics/gynecology; cardiology; and ear, nose and throat specialties.
It also will offer radiology and laboratory services, he said.
Cosentino expects the medical mall will be used not only by those who live in Rita Ranch, but also residents of Vail and Corona de Tucson, south of Interstate 10.
Charlie Prewitt, who lives in Academy Village — an active-adult community on Old Spanish Trail — says he usually goes to the UMC Pantano Physicians office at 7901 E. 22nd St.
Prewitt said he has gone to the medical mall before to get urgent care, and he'll do so again if the need arises.
"It's closer to go there than all the way into Tucson," he said.
Cosentino said that by midsummer, Carondelet hopes to offer urgent care at the medical mall. The company might expand the medical mall by up to 8,000 square feet and add two more physicians, he said.
Cosentino said Carondelet officials try to provide facilities in rapidly growing areas like the far East Side.
The Carondelet Health Network also plans to build a 78-bed hospital next to the municipal complex in the heart of Sahuarita.
Work on the $62 million Carondelet hospital is expected to begin in 2010.
For more information
● Carondelet Medical Mall at Rita Ranch is now open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-8 p.m. at 10222 E. Rita Road.
In March, the new facility will open at 8290 S. Houghton Road.
To find out more about the medical mall, call 873-6200 or go online to: www.carondelet.org/information/ritaranch.htm; the Carondelet Health Network home page is at www.carondelet.org
Other medical facilities
● Tucson Medical Center operates these Saguaro Physicians / TMC Healthcare facilities on Tucson's Southeast Side:
• 9348 E. Rita Road, which offers urgent care and radiology services. The phone number is 663-1491.
• 9356 E. Rita Road and 53 E. Tallahassee Drive in Corona de Tucson, both of which house physicians' offices. The phone number is 762-5308.
For more information about services, or to make an appointment, call 324-4000.
By 2010, TMC officials plan to open a 100-bed hospital in Civano, a residential development on South Houghton Road.
The $90 million Rincon Community Hospital, to be built on a 47-acre parcel near South Houghton and East Drexel roads, would provide acute-care services for adults, including labor and delivery, and other basic medical care and surgical procedures.
