SALISBURY, Md.- “What better way to connect people with a primary office than to put one within walking distance of so many people who have a need?” TidalHealth Peninsula Regional CEO Steven Wallace said.

TidalHealth Peninsula Regional recently broke ground on its new Edward Q. Wilgus Community Clinic, currently home to Hotel Esther.

CEO Steven Wallace said the goal is to increase access to primary care in the Church Street neighborhood. “At this site, it’ll benefit from having somewhere between six to eight doctors everyday given the fact that we now are heading down that academic route. It’s only because of our size and volume that we’re able to do this,” he said.

Just around the corner is Adopt a Block Outreach. Director Mark Thompson said they’ve identified many areas that need to be addressed for residents. “We’ve found out that in this neighborhood there’s a great need for resources for mental health counseling, drug addiction counseling, and to fight food insecurity,” Thompson said.

With Adopt a Block’s new outreach center nearing closer to completion, Thompson believes having Tidal Health as a new neighbor will allow them to do more. “Our facility will also have a health room. We want to see a partnership with TidalHealth and they can send interns down to work with people who come in off the street to get them any resources they need,” he said. “With Adopt a Block, we go out into the neighborhoods, and we’ve made that connection with the community. They may not feel comfortable going someplace else, but they know us and trust us.”

Wallace said with the new facility they also hope to reduce the number of ER visits they see from residents in area. “We were looking into the northeast and northwest sides of Salisbury specifically because when we mapped out our ER visits, these were ER hot spots. That means that the prevalence of patients coming to the ER in these areas lit up on our maps,” Wallace said.

Tidal Health told they also were recently institutionally accredited, which means that means they can train physicians across a number of different specialties from primary care to general surgery.

TidalHealth plans to offer additional social services at the facility including behavioral health providers.

Construction is expected to take around 16 months.