Kwik Trip Center for Health Celebrates Grand Opening
LA CROSSE, Wis. – Kwik Trip Inc. celebrated the end of 2013 by looking out for its workers' health and opening the Kwik Trip Center for Health at its La Crosse headquarters, according to a La Crosse Tribune report.
Kwik Trip employees can access wellness programs and some acute care services at the clinic, which opened its doors Dec. 4 and will hold an official ribbon-cutting ceremony and open houses for employees and their families Jan. 10-11. The clinic serves the dual purpose of improving employees' health and reducing costs for the company, said site supervisor Angie Hammond.
Kwik Trip owns the building. The clinic's seven staff members, including a doctor, nurse practitioner, medical assistant and physical therapist, are employees of Winooski, Vt.-based Marathon Health for Life, a national worksite health care company.
The clinic serves approximately 3,000 Kwik Trip employees and their families in the La Crosse region, and also offers online services to them and the chain's other 8,000 workers in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, Human Resources Manager Mila Spencer told the news outlet.
"Basically, any coworker can use the health center," said Spencer. "If they're here for training or just passing through, they can use it. The online resources were really important for us, too."
Free clinic services include wellness visits, weight loss services and coaching on lifestyle changes, while acute care services and laboratory tests require insurance co-pays. The clinic also performs drug screenings for new employees and randomly tested workers. Additionally, the clinic is designed to work in collaboration with existing hospital systems rather than try to replace them, in order to fully meet patient needs.
Kwik Trip decided to build the clinic after studying overall health care costs and studying other facilities.
"This is a way to both contain health care costs and be good for our coworkers," said Spencer. "It really focuses on wellness, not just when they are sick."