RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — New health care options will soon be available for those living in Riviera Beach.
City council has paved the way to build a multi-million-dollar medical facility that will provide health and behavioral services for those in need.
"Adult medicine, pediatrics, woman’s health services, dentistry, pharmacy, we also have behavioral health and psychiatry" said Christopher Irizarry, the CEO of FoundCare.
The facility will cater to any resident regardless of income or insurance.
"If they don’t have money to pay, they aren’t turned away for inability to pay," Irizarry said.
And that’s welcoming news for residents like Jeanette Johnson.
"That would be a lot better than coming all the way south," Johnson said.
Johnson said the FoundCare center in Palm Springs was her only option she could find to get help for her nephew.
"He called 30 places, I called 30 places, and we got no where," Johnson said. "This is the only place we could really get a primary and a dental, so it worked out great."
The plan is to build on an empty lot along the Broadway Avenue corridor next to McDonalds , where statistics show there’s a desperate need for a one-stop-shop medical facility.
"The 33404 zip code we’ve seen that the life expectancy, in that zip code, is 69 compared to to the rest of the county which is 81," Irizarry said.
It’s why City council voted unanimously to green-light the $15 million project which is being funded by FoundCare.
"Having this facility here will be a way to provide a lot of preventatives so that we can get out of those high number of having high blood pressure, diabetes, and all of that," said Kashamba Miller-Anderson, the chair pro-tem of the Riviera Beach City Council.
The center will also include space for small business startups.
"Help give them an extra boost, get their-selves started. I think it just goes hand-in-hand with our CRA master plan of what we’re trying to do in that area," Miller-Anderson said.
City leaders hope to break ground within the next six months.
