New Health And Wellness Center Opens In North Tulsa

It's a step toward making health and wellness a priority in Green Country.

The north Tulsa community took its greatest stride in making that idea a reality today.

The Tulsa County Health Department held a grand opening celebration for the North Regional Health and Wellness Center.

A cloudy morning didn't keep the community from coming together to celebrate North Tulsa's newest addition.

"Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful," resident Birdie Clifton said. "I just don't have words to say because it's so exciting."

Clifton said the opening of the North Regional Health and Wellness Center is history in the making.

"You know, what I can see this being in the future, [is] a satellite hospital," Clifton said.

The idea for the facility spurred from a startling health statistic back in 2006.

"That showed that residents in this area died 14 years earlier than residents living in south Tulsa," Tulsa Health Department Chief of Operations Reggie Ivey said.

Ivey is determined to turns those numbers around.

"We're about solutions, and that's why the health department decided to build the facility in the zip code that has the worst health outcomes in the entire county," Ivey said.

The health center will provide all sorts of services ranging from immunizations and health screenings to prevention programs for teen pregnancy and substance abuse.

Primary care services will be provided on site through the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences.

"This really was a labor of love that was rooted in the community," said Chief of Operations Reggie Ivey.

"So now we have something that we have pride in," Birdie Clifton said.

After the party in the Community Hall is over, it will be transformed into a place for free exercise classes.

There's also a demonstration kitchen where the community can come for cooking lessons.

Cecelia Edwards has already signed up for the class.

"I want to learn how to cook more healthy meals for my family so we can get in shape, get healthy," Edwards said.

It's the first step to a fresh start for an entire community.

The center $8.2 million center will be open for business Monday morning at 5635 North Cincinnati Avenue.