Nonprofit health services provider Community Health Association of Spokane is partnering with Providence Health Care on a $3.5 million remodel of a medical office building in north Spokane that will serve as one of two sites for a new dental residency program.

The 9,900-square-foot building at 203 E. Dalke, which consists of a main level and a basement, previously was occupied by North Spokane Physical & Sports Therapy.

Siobhan Whitney, strategy and business development consultant with Providence, says ALSC Architects PS, of Spokane, designed the project, and Spokane-based Bouten Construction Co. is the contractor.

She says interior demolition began early this month, and the project is expected to be completed by late July.

“Work will include building 19 different dental operatories, a lab, and a sterilization area on the main floor,” she says. “The basement will be remodeled to include a staff break room, mechanical space, and a mother’s room.”

Kelly Halverson, vice president of administrative services for CHAS, says, “Not only will this new location help provide clinical education and experience for dental residents, but it will significantly improve access for patients seeking dental care in Spokane. This partnership is a great example of what progress can be made in our community when two organizations come together.”

Halverson says that when fully staffed, the new clinic will have 46 full-time employees, a mixture of new hires and others who plan to transfer from other areas within the organization.

Whitney says the idea for a dental residency program came about after Providence conducted a community health needs assessment and discovered a great need for dental care among Medicaid adults and seniors.

“The clinic on the North Side will function as a typical CHAS dental clinic, but also serve as a rotation site for the new Providence Spokane Dental residency program,” she says.

Whitney says the new residency program, which is set to begin in 2020, will have six residents and two rotation sites—the newly remodeled CHAS clinic and a second clinic site within the Sacred Heart Doctors Building, at 105 W. Eighth.

Whitney says Sacred Heart’s dental clinic, which occupies a 2,700-square-foot space previously used by Inland Imaging, is set to open within the next three months.

Dr. Timothy Naomi is the director of the new residency program and will oversee both the development of the new clinic and its accreditation through the Commission on Dental Accreditation.

He says the program is designed as a one-year general practice residency to provide dental students who have graduated the opportunity to complete an added year of education and expand their knowledge.

While both clinic rotation sites will focus on providing care for the underserved, Medicaid, and indigent care populations, Naomi says the Sacred Heart site will have a greater emphasis on medically complex cases and developmentally challenged patients.

Whitney says the Providence Health Care Foundation created a capital campaign in 2016 to raise the $5 million in funding needed to establish the residency program and create the two clinic spaces, reaching its goal in December.