Lone Star Family Health Center begins construction on 24,000-square-foot expansion in Conroe

Lone Star Family Health Center Conroe branch has begun construction on a 24,000-square foot expansion that will ensure services keep up with rapid growth. 

Clinic staff, board members for the health center and members of the G.T.T. general contractors group participated in a groundbreaking ceremony Nov. 16. The expansion will add to the current building at 605 S Conroe Medical Drive and is expected to open in September 2024. 

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Founded in 2002, Lone Star Family Health Center is a full-service federally qualified health center and nonprofit. The health center’s mission is to provide compassionate, affordable healthcare and prepare tomorrow’s family medicine professionals. The center provides medical, dental and mental-health services. 

Primary care services are offered across five clinic locations in Conroe, Willis, Spring, Grangerland and Huntsville. 

The current Conroe center opened in June 2012 at 70,000 square feet. 

Duke Coon, chairman of the Lone Star Health Center board, told those gathered for the groundbreaking he remembered standing on the corner of the property when ground was broken for the current center more than a decade ago. 

“This is our flagship and we’re going to continue to build and grow and meet the needs of those who need our help in Montgomery and Walker counties,” he said. 

During the pandemic, the center coordinated testing sites and the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine in the Conroe area. 

“The net additional square footage will result in another clinical pod. There are five clinical pods and a dental pod currently so there will be an additional medical pod,” said Karen Harwell, Chief Executive Officer for the Lone Star Family Health Center. “This expansion will accommodate about 3,000 additional patients.”

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The second floor will be renovated, the pharmacy will be expanded adding a retail arm of the pharmacy and a dedicated mental health suite.

“Right now, (the mental health services) are embedded within a medical suite,” she said. “Also, we have doubled the size of our behavioral health team and we needed space for them.” 

The second floor houses office space and serves as a hub for central business operations for the outlying clinics. 

The flow at the front of the building will change as well. Harwell said patient intake currently happens all over the building. When the expansion is complete, there will be one main intake area. 

The expansion will bring a second entrance to the building as well. 

“We’ve added a lot of satellite locations and each time we open a satellite location, we see a little bit of the Conroe volume go up with people reaching services closer to home,” she said. “We’ve seen this area exploding and the amount of time people have to wait to get an appointment is beyond where we’d like it to be.” 

Visit the Lone Star Family Health Center website for more.