Ballentine YMCA opens Monday, March 16 and Ballentine Family Medicine opens Wednesday, April 8
Last year, Palmetto Health and the YMCA of Columbia announced their enhanced partnership focused on improving the health and wellness of residents across the Midlands region. The partnership makes a significant move forward next week as their first major joint project – a $6.8 million, 19,925 square-foot facility, which co-houses Ballentine Family YMCA and Ballentine Family Medicine – opens to the public. Ballentine Family YMCA, where memberships currently are being sold, opens Monday, March 16 and Ballentine Family Medicine will begin caring for the community on Wednesday, April 8. The facilities, located at 1079 Dutch Fork Road, share a common atrium and community room for educational opportunities by both organizations.
Features of Ballentine Family Medicine include:
- Patients will be cared for by family medicine physicians Jamee Steen, M.D., Medical Director, and Ashley Wilson, M.D. Steen has practiced in the Columbia area since 1991. Her clinical interests include chronic disease management, women’s health, pediatrics and health and wellness. Wilson’s interests include women’s health, diabetes and pediatrics.
- Primary care for the entire family, including children, at one location.
- The space is designed to maximize patient comfort and privacy. Patients stay in one room for their entire visit.
- Extended hours will be offered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 7 a.m.-7 p.m. The practice will also be open Mondays and Thursdays, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
- Technology will enhance the patient’s experience including direct download of a patient’s vitals and information into his/her electronic medical record, use of tablets for patient education, an online patient portal which makes a patient’s medical information available to them online to help guide their care, and, eventually, E-visits, which will allow patients to connect virtually with their physician and receive medical care for certain illnesses.
Features of Ballentine Family YMCA include:
- Full amenities including individual TV monitors on cardio equipment, free weights, 40+ group exercise classes per week, locker rooms, two hours of free ChildWatch per visit, Silver Sneakers program and personal training.
- Members are included in community-wide memberships that provide member access to all programs and services at six area YMCA locations.
Charles D. Beaman, Jr., Palmetto Health CEO, said, “As our partnership continues, we are seeing a wealth of opportunities to leverage our commitment to improving the physical, emotional and spiritual health of all individuals and communities we serve with the YMCA’s focus on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. As organizations both founded on Christian principles, our partnership continues centuries of caring for this community. We know that this partnership can help improve the health of those we both serve.”
Bryan Madden, YMCA of Columbia CEO, added, “For more than 160 years, the Y has been dedicated to changing lives. Working with the Midlands’ leader in health care is an incredible opportunity to positively impact the health and wellness of our communities.”
Both organizations look forward to offering additional enhanced opportunities for community members to improve their health including wellness programs, health screenings, support groups and educational programs. One of the programs that has been developed as a result of the partnership is a physician referral healthy living program, Fresh Start. The program offers patients and Palmetto Health team members support to make healthy lifestyle changes. The program includes appointments with a Healthy Living Coach, physical activity guidance and healthy eating support.
Steen said, “Pairing a medical practice with a YMCA will offer us some unique educational opportunities. As physicians, we will have the opportunity to offer our patients the resources needed to make a lifestyle change instead of just suggesting that it needs to be made. As the health care industry moves toward improving the health of the community all the time, this is a wonderful opportunity and we look forward to developing additional initiatives that help us achieve this.”
For more information about Ballentine Family Medicine, visit PalmettoHealth.org or to make appointments, call 803-749-8900. For YMCA Membership information, visit columbiaymca.org, and to learn more about Fresh Start program, contact 803-748-9622 ext. 115.
About Palmetto Health
Palmetto Health, the largest health care system in the Midlands and third largest non-governmental employer in South Carolina, is composed of more than 10,000 team members, physicians and volunteers working together to fulfill Palmetto Health’s vision: to be remembered by each patient as providing the care and compassion we want for our families and ourselves. The system includes five acute-care hospitals—Palmetto Health Baptist, Palmetto Health Baptist Parkridge, Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital, Palmetto Health Heart Hospital and Palmetto Health Richland—as well as an expansive physician practice network, dozens of affiliated clinics and specialty care practices and a 501(c)(3) foundation. Recognized nationally as one of the best places to work and receive care, Palmetto Health also trains the next generation of physicians through its 23 residency and fellowship programs affiliated with the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. For more information, visit www.PalmettoHealth.org.
About the YMCA of Columbia
Over the past century and a half, the YMCA of Columbia has been a community-transforming institution, not only in the Midlands, but in the entire United States. The Y is one of the nation’s leading nonprofits strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. Regardless of age, income or background, the Y works to nurture the potential of children and teens, improve the nation’s health and well-being, and provide opportunities to give back and support neighbors. The Y has the long-standing relationships and physical presence not just to promise, but to deliver, lasting personal and social change. Please visit www.columbiaymca.org for more information.
