By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

NORCO – St. Charles Parish officials broke ground Wednesday on a 15,000-square-foot community health center to be built on a large swath of land along River Road in Norco.

The new facility, which will provide services to east bank residents of St. Charles, St. John and St. James parishes, will replace a temporary facility on First Street in Norco that has been in operation for more than a year.

St. Charles Parish spokesperson Renee Simpson said the St. Charles Community Health Center, headquartered in Luling, has been trying to build a new clinic on the east bank of the parish for a number of years and recently received grant money for a new facility from a U.S. Health Resources and Services program. Simpson explained the grant is helping to fund $1.3 million in operating expenses at the temporary facility. The new clinic will be built on land already donated by Valero St. Charles Refinery.

Services at the new clinic will include industrial medicine, family health care, a dental clinic and adult day care. In addition to the existing grant, construction will also get help from a $1.35 million allocation from the state capital outlay program.

The total estimated project cost is about $5 million. The facility will employ about 35 people and will be one of the larger non-industrial employers in the Norco community.