Aspire Indiana Health aims to provide health care for the entire family, and with a $6.9 million facility expansion under way, it expects to be better positioned to accomplish that task.
Aspire is a Federally Qualified Health Center that provides primary care, behavioral health services, substance-use disorder services and mental health services.
“We also provide social services, such as housing, employment, financial and legal assistance,” Aspire Indiana Health President and CEO Barbara Scott said. “We do all of those things for the residents of Hamilton County.”
Aspire recently broke ground on an expansion to its Noblesville office at 17840 Cumberland Rd.
“The Noblesville office is our fastest-growing, largest operation in our entire region, and we serve Boone, Hamilton, Madison and Marion counties,” Scott said. “Because of that volume growth and our integrated model, we just needed more space.”
Aspire also has an office in Carmel at 697 Pro-Med Lane.
The expansion will double the office’s 15,000-square-foot footprint, and the project includes upgrades to the existing building.
“In the new space, that’s going to be primarily our primary care space, so we will have exam rooms and we also will have what we call consultation rooms, so individuals who are receiving primary care and behavioral health can have a place to go to receive behavioral health services,” Scott said. “In our existing space, we are building out the group rooms. A lot of substance abuse disorder treatment is in that facility, and one of best ways to provide that treatment is in groups so people going through addiction treatment have peers to hold each other accountable as well as support one another.”
Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen said with mental health being one of his focuses, the city is excited to move forward with Aspire.
“Mental health is one of our pillars here in Noblesville and Aspire has been a partner with the city and will continue to be a partner moving forward,” Jensen said. “We look forward to watching Aspire continue to grow in our community and offer vital health and well-being services to our residents.”
The design for the building expansion took two years to complete.
“There are no integrated primary care and behavioral health facilities that are a template for this,” Scott said. “This is an innovative model, and then COVID hit, and we realized many behavioral health services can be done through telehealth. Unfortunately, not all people we serve have their financial and housing needs met, and they just don’t have devices or connectivity to benefit from telehealth, so we actually built telehealth rooms where individuals who do not have access to a device or internet can come to the facility and the provider might be in a different location. So, we actually will have telehealth rooms called technology-assisted therapy rooms.”
Aspire Indiana Health broke ground on the expansion last month. Construction is expected to be complete in spring 2022.
Scott said Aspire Indiana Health is open to anyone.
“We serve all walks of life,” she said. “So, we do serve individuals who have commercial insurance and are working, but we also serve individuals who may be unemployed who do not have insurance. We have a sliding scale fee, so we charge what people can afford all the way down to if they are unable to pay. The other thing we are able to do with individuals is connect them to resources and benefits.”
For more, visit aspireindiana.org.
No disruptions
Although Aspire Indiana Health is constructing a new building and renovating its space at 17840 Cumberland Rd., Noblesville, it still will be able to provide service to those in need during the construction.
“Luckily because of the space we have today, we will phase the building so operations will continue in that facility and shouldn’t be disrupted,” Aspire Indiana Health President and CEO Barbara Scott said.
Scott said the COVID-19 pandemic has increased depression, anxiety and substance-use disorders.
“COVID has been very, very hard on the people in our community,” she said.
Aspire Indiana Health also provides home and community-based services.
“We have individuals that their level of care is they may need more than just coming in for therapy or coming in for primary care,” Scott said. “We are able to go into their home to help with life skills like budgeting and parenting, and we are able to help them with seeking employment. We can help provide housing opportunities for them, so we do a lot of support out in the community.”
