Staff Report

ROCKFORD — SwedishAmerican celebrated the opening of Riverwest Clinic in southwest Rockford with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday.

Leadership from SwedishAmerican, City of Rockford and the Chamber of Commerce joined the staff from Riverwest Clinic for the ceremonial opening. Located at 815 Marchesano Drive, the $4.1 million clinic opens its doors to patients on Monday.

Riverwest will feature primary care, obstetrics, lab and imaging services. The multispecialty clinic sits on 1.25 acres, covers a total of 8,000 square feet and is located near Providence Baptist Church and Rockford Fire Department Station 3 in southwest Rockford.

“SwedishAmerican has had a long-standing commitment to take care of the entire community,” President and CEO Dr. Michael Born said. “The opening of the Riverwest Clinic is consistent with our mission. We are truly excited to open a clinic in this neighborhood and to serve an area that has not had these services for a long time.”

Riverwest will open with three full-time providers – Dr. Corrine Maund, Dr. Marden Torrijos, and Nurse Practitioner Stephanie Bertram – with the opportunity for additional provider staffing and growth in the future. In addition to providing the area with top-notch providers, nearly all of the employees at Riverwest are bi-lingual.

“On behalf of the ministers, officers and members of Pilgrim Baptist Church of Rockford, I salute SwedishAmerican Hospital for having the vision, compassion and community commitment to erect a state-of-the-art medical clinic in southwest Rockford,” said Rev. Kenneth R. Board, a SwedishAmerican Board Member and Pastor at Pilgrim Baptist Church located off S. Central Avenue. “As first vice chair of the board of directors of SwedishAmerican Hospital, I am honored to have been a part of the site discovery team that led us to build such an historical and cutting-edge clinic. I believe that the presence of this clinic will act as an economic accelerator for new business developments in southwest Rockford.”

Leaders say the construction of Riverwest Clinic created dozens of construction jobs and will lead to additional permanent healthcare jobs. It is one of three new clinics SwedishAmerican is opening on the west side of Rockford in 2019. R.