Rocktown Health, which opened to open in the fall, nears completion | Doctors And Hospitals

Rocktown Health, a partnership of area healthcare organizations, is almost entirely operational.

Although the plan for a grand opening in the fall fell through, health care providers like Strength in Peers, Healthy Community Health Centers and Master Center for Addiction Medicine started moving in in the fall.

Healthy Community Health Centers will be the last provider to begin operations in the space, according to Cory Davies, director of the Sentara RMH Foundation, which owns the building.

Natalie Bass, director of Healthy Community Health Centers, said the health organization hopes to open its clinic in the Water Street location sometime this spring. Once opened, HCHC will offer same-day services like flu tests and primary care in the Rocktown Health building and operate its own in-house pharmacy.

“For the care management team, it’s been very nice for them to be here,” Bass said of the building. “Very accessible. They have a lot more space than they did before.”

Bass added that Healthy Community Health Centers moved its HIV care management services into the building’s third floor in the fall, giving over 100 patients a new facility to enjoy as they receive critical treatment like HIV and AIDS testing, housing assistance, a food pantry, and more.

Strength in Peers brought its satellite offices in Rocktown Health online in the fall, around the same time as Healthy Community Health Centers’ care management office. Although the addiction recovery nonprofit still maintains its main office on North Main Street, Lindsey Eye, Strength in Peers’ programs director, said the satellite office makes care more accessible for residents of downtown Harrisonburg who may not have access to reliable transportation.

Eye said this would not be Strength in Peers and Healthy Community Health Centers’ first time working together.

“Everyone in the building is probably aware of each other, but this just makes that connection stronger,” Eye said.

Other organizations, like Sentara Behavioral Health and Master Center, are able to provide continuing care to patients all under the same roof. Sentara Behavioral Health is able to offer counseling and substance abuse assessments, while Master Center offers other addiction recovery options like medication-assisted treatment and other outpatient treatments.

Rocktown Health is operating in the building that was occupied by The Free Clinic until 2020. After The Free Clinic closed, The Community Foundation of Harrisonburg and Rockingham took ownership of the facility before transferring it to the Sentara RMH Foundation in December 2020.

Since then, the Sentara RMH Foundation and its partner organizations have been working together to create an integrated network of care for Harrisonburg’s most vulnerable populations all under one roof, Davies said.

“One of the things that we want our community to have access to is a continuum of care for addiction,” Davies said. “As with any type of care, we know that people are more likely to access it if it’s in a place where they’re comfortable.”