New patient clinics opening in Meridian

MERIDIAN ­– Residents of Meridian, Boise and other cities in the Treasure Valley can expect some new health care services coming their way starting in January 2021, thanks to an expansion of the Idaho State University Meridian Clinics.

The ISU Meridian Clinics have been renovated in two phases.  The first phase started in December of 2019, and was completed in the summer of 2020. The second phase started July 1, 2020, and is scheduled for completion in December 2020. Furniture and equipment were purchased using a grant from the Sunderland Foundation.

The first new clinic is a Rehabilitation Counseling Clinic, which will provide services for individuals with emotional and physical disabilities to help them achieve their personal, career, and independent living goals. This new clinic will supplement the counseling clinic already in place, which offers individual, couple, and family counseling.

A new Psychopharmacology Clinic will provide evaluation, psychotherapy, and medication management for patients suffering from a variety of mental health conditions requiring psychiatric medication.

The Nutrition Services outpatient clinic will provide individual and group wellness, as well as medical nutrition therapy counseling for adults, children, and families. It will also serve as a rotation site for dietetic interns. The clinic will also be used to conduct nutrition counseling and education activities provided in support of research initiatives among ISU faculty and students.

Finally, the Physical and Occupational Therapy Clinic will begin providing services in the fall of 2022. It will provide a teaching arm for the Doctor of Physical Therapy and Master of Occupational Therapy programs. The facilities will include innovative faculty research and therapy services for the underserved and underinsured population of the Treasure Valley.

Patricia Marincic, professor and associate vice president for the Kasiska Division of Health Sciences, says the new clinics are a wonderful opportunity for students as well as the broader community. The students will get hands-on medical training, enabling them to be better prepared to enter the industry upon graduation. The students training under the direct supervision of ISU faculty clinicians provide a broad range of clinical services to the growing client population.

“I am delighted that we have been able to complete construction of our clinics this fall enabling ISU-Meridian to expand services to include nutrition, rehabilitation counseling, and physical therapy,” said Marincic. “ISU clinics are integral to our community outreach efforts in the Treasure Valley. Our experienced ISU faculty clinicians are at the cutting edge of both practice and research in their respective fields.”