In a challenging year for health care providers, Community Health Center of Fort Dodge was able to expand access to coronavirus testing, improve quality and end on a high note as it entered 2021.

With a $2.5 million project, Community Health Center will expand access to behavioral health care and dental services, renovating its building to add an additional 8,000 square feet of space, where capacity for dental services will increase 50% from eight chairs to 12.

Behavioral services will also see significant increases, with four additional offices and new providers. The new changes will also allow for a dedicated behavioral health waiting room and space for group therapy sessions (instead of just individual therapy sessions.)

The lower level of the downtown building will be renovated and converted to allow for the increased capacity, and will also include new spaces for staff like a break room, locker room and conference room.

A grant of $1 million will help with the project, which was already in the works before CHC received it. Renae Kruckenberg, CEO of the center, said the increased capacity is needed more now with behavioral health providers at capacity.

“I think (demand for services) was growing before COVID, and since COVID hit, the (need for) mental health (services) has increased,” Kruckenberg said, telling The Messenger that loneliness from increased isolation in the pandemic has taken a big toll on mental health. “They need somebody to talk to, reach out to, to realize they’re not alone and (that) mental health is important and they still need to make sure they’re happy and healthy.”

With providers at capacity, she said there are now patients on waiting lists for services — a list that largely did not exist before the pandemic.

“We have providers maxed out with the patients they can see,” the CEO said, with current housing not ideal for accommodating additional staff. “When the need is there, we try to meet the need in the community.”

A new therapist, who started in October, has seen her schedule fill up as well. A new dentist started in July and a family practice nurse practitioner is planning to complete certification soon. Another dentist and psychiatric nurse practitioner will soon help with the number of patients in the future.

CHC currently has two prescribing behavioral health providers, three therapist offices and two offices used by psychologists.

Group therapy in a large space that allows for social distancing will also be beneficial in being able to fill needs in different ways.

“The big thing for group therapy is you have other people there that are going through the common issues and concerns you are,” Kruckenberg said. “If you need peer networking, a lot of times they connect with people and can have somebody outside of therapy to reach out to and talk to. Everybody is there for the same reason and a common goal, so they can have that feeling that they’re not alone.”

The renovation will be let for bidding this spring, with hopes for completion by the end of the year. The project was designed by Allers Associates Architects, of Fort Dodge.

In 2020, CHC sprang to action quickly, activating a vision with plans that anticipated future needs well.

In March, it could take up to eight days to receive COVID-19 test results as clinics sent away to the state and private labs for processing. By September, those needing a test could get results in just minutes. By January, you could get tested for COVID-19 and the flu with one swab.

“The contact tracing then became difficult because we were waiting so long for results that it became difficult to have patients waiting in limbo for days,” said Ann Feser, nurse practitioner.

Thanks to quick thinking by Community Health Center, testing equipment ordered in March arrived in June, one of the slower periods of activity for the center. Since then, the time to receive test results has gone from up to eight days to about 20 minutes — the only rapid testing available within 100 miles, Feser said in September.

“Once we got our in-house machine, things really started to ramp up,” Kruckenberg said.

As testing time sped up, Kruckenberg said CHC testing offers a 96.7% accuracy rate for positive results and 100% for negative results. The clinic, with a separate set-up for COVID-19 testing, can test anywhere from 100 to 180 patients per day.

As CHC ramped up advertising to let the public know where they can get tested, honed knowledge informed best practices on when to get tested. And as needs grew more intense with viral waves toward the end of the year, the clinic pivoted locations twice to handle long lines, settling at the Iowa Central Community College East Campus on Quail Avenue in November.

Their responsiveness may have proved just how deserving Community Health was of substantial grants over the last year and a prestigious Quality Improvement Award from the Health Resources and Services Administration in August.