STILWELL, Okla. — The Cherokee Nation will break ground Tuesday, March 3 on an expansion project that will add 80,000 square feet of new space to the Wilma P. Mankiller Health Center in Stilwell.
The two-story addition will expand the health center’s dental, optometry and pharmacy services, among other highlights. The new addition will also allow room for future growth to the health center.
The construction project includes the demolition of an original 37,000-square-foot portion of the facility that was built in 1994. The expansion will attach to the east wing of an existing facility that was added to the health center in 2015.
Once completed in 2021, the Wilma P. Mankiller Health Center will be a total of approximately 110,000 square feet.
The health center supports a variety of services including primary care, pediatrics, physical therapy, mammography, dental, optometry, radiology, behavioral health, public health nursing, pharmacy, laboratory, nutrition, WIC, contract health and diabetes care. In 2019, the health center saw more than 134,000 ambulatory care visits and filled nearly 200,000 prescriptions.
The Wilma P. Mankiller Health Center is the third largest of the tribally operated outpatient health centers and is named in honor of the late Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller, the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. Members of Mankiller's family will be on hand for the groundbreaking ceremony.
The Cherokee Nation operates the largest tribal health system in the country with more than 1.3 million patient visits per year.