Based on its first two weeks, the new place in Hermantown is a hit, particularly with the younger set.
“The number of youth that are using the facility, it’s a great problem to have,” said Jeramy Katchuba, district vice president of the Duluth Area Family YMCA, about the Essentia Wellness Center.
“We have lines at the door at 3 p.m. when school lets out. … They’re in the pool, they’re in the gym. They’re upstairs exercising.”
A dream first talked about out loud five years ago, the 72,000-square-foot, $26 million Essentia Wellness Center opened Oct. 14 on land adjacent to Hermantown schools. As of the middle of last week, close to 2,300 people were members, Katchuba said, “far exceeding our projections.” The membership was heavily loaded with families and with senior citizens, he added.
“I think I’ve been here every day that I’ve been in town,” said John Mulder, Hermantown’s city administrator. “And there’s constantly people just in the lobby.”
The center is the product of three entities — the city of Hermantown, Essentia Health and the YMCA. What emerges is a combination community center, medical clinic and day care center along with everything one might expect from a high-end Y.
Mostly new construction, the facility includes the “92 Addition” — the fourth- and fifth-grade wing of the old Hermantown Middle School. That houses the child care center and the Essentia clinic.
The latter includes physical therapy, occupational therapy, behavioral health and health psychology, said Dr. Jason Buffington, who now splits his time between the wellness center and the Essentia Health-West Duluth Clinic.
But Buffington, along with physician assistant Todd Plocher, is there to provide a lifestyle medicine clinic — the only such clinic in Minnesota, Buffington said, and one of just a handful in the nation.
A lifestyle medicine provider is a dietitian, medical doctor and health and wellness coach all wrapped into one, he said.
“Recently, the studies show probably 80% to 90% of the disease and death that we have in America is due to our lifestyle factors and not genetics and chance,” Buffington said. “We use lifestyle changes as the first line before medications and surgeries.”
Although patients may be referred by another patient, most come in on their own initiative, he said, and they don’t need to be Essentia patients to do so. They use the same insurance billing system as any other clinic, he added.
Along with the Essentia clinic and the child care clinic, a lounge space, a large multi-purpose room and a Yellow Bike coffee shop are open to the community without Y memberships, Katchuba said.
When the Y itself is discussed, the superlatives come out.
The one-eighth-mile-long indoor track “is the longest indoor track in the area,” Katchuba said. The fitness center upstairs is the most up to date, he added. “There’s nobody that can really compare with the programs and services that we offer in that space.”
The pool includes “zero-depth entry,” meaning children (and adults) can enter as if at the beach. The main pool is four lanes, 25 feet long, 7 feet deep. There’s also a resistance “river,” an adaptive and therapy pool, a whirlpool and a sauna.
The gymnasium is lined for basketball, volleyball and pickleball, Katchuba said. In addition to men’s and women’s locker rooms, the Y has eight adaptive locker rooms that can be used by families or individuals with special needs.
The Y has its own “Kids’ Club,” he said, where children ages 4 months to 9 years old can be looked after for up to two hours while their parents or guardians are working out.
The Kids’ Club is an unlicensed facility, Katchuba said, but the child care center will be licensed. It’s the only part of the facility that still wasn't open last week, pending state regulatory blessings, but it’s hoped that will come as soon as this week.
The child care center will serve 118 children, with two infant rooms, three toddler rooms and three preschool rooms, Katchuba said.
“We’re just on the cusp of opening,” said Sara Cole, president and CEO of the Duluth Area Family YMCA. “We’re really excited to step up and help solve the region’s shortage with full-day licensed child care.”
As of late last week, space was still available in some areas, Katchuba said.
The center originally was envisioned as a $17 million project, but Mulder said it quickly became apparent that wouldn’t be enough to include everything that was wanted. “The (City) Council looked hard at that and said, ‘Wait a second. We can’t just lop off a gym or the pool or child care,’” he said.
Funding consists of $8 million from the state, $2 million from Essentia and $13 million to $15 million from the city of Hermantown, depending on how much is raised from a capital campaign, Mulder said. All of the city’s share comes from a 1% sales tax that was in place before the project began.
When the project was first announced, officials cited St. Louis County’s lagging health outcomes as a primary reason it was needed. In that regard, the location might seem to be a curious choice. It’s not on a bus route, although Arrowhead Transit can bring passengers to the center, Mulder said. Some residents live close enough to walk, but it’s mostly a “car-centric” site, he said.
The new facility is located in a census tract where the life expectancy is 79, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. By contrast, it’s 69 in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Duluth, and 66 in the Central Hillside.
If the goal is to improve health outcomes, wouldn’t it be more strategic to place a facility in one of those neighborhoods, the representatives of the YMCA and Essentia were asked.
Cole answered by saying the Y and Essentia already are addressing health outcomes in low-income neighborhoods. Examples include diabetes prevention programs offered for free at a number of locations — with a four-month Y membership included — and tens of thousands of meals served to communities in poverty in such locations as the Gary-New Duluth Recreation Center and the Harbor Highlands Community Center.
“The truth is, our success here (at YMCA facilities) also means that we can fund those programs in other spaces,” Cole said. “And Essentia is already our partner in many of those endeavors.”
Mulder said that for southern St. Louis County outside of Duluth, the wellness center’s location is ideal. But it doesn’t address all needs, he allowed.
“I think there’s still that challenge of: OK, how do we serve those populations that aren’t as affluent and have maybe greater health needs because of it?” Mulder said. “I think we’re still struggling with that.”
The details
Essentia Wellness Center
Where: 4289 Ugstad Road, Hermantown
Hours: 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday; 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday
Child care center (once it’s open): 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday
Essentia clinic: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday
YMCA memberships: They range from $21 per month for a youth membership to $84 per month for a two-adult family. Financial assistance is available for those who can’t afford a membership. No membership is required for the community portion of the building. A Y membership at the Essentia Wellness Center is also good at the downtown Duluth Y and any other YMCA in the country, Sara Cole said.
Learn more: Visit duluthymca.org/locations/ymca-essentia-wellness-center or call (218) 241-8008
