Medical building work starts

NORWELL South Shore Medical Center has broken ground on construction of an 80,000-square-foot medical building that will be state-of-the-art and innovative, according to doctors, who described its layout as enabling a team-based health care model focused on illness prevention.

The $20 million Longwater Drive building is also kind of a big deal in Norwell, said Jeff DeMarco, a town resident and president of Campanelli Construction, the Braintree-based company managing the project.

What is really exciting about the facility is that, I dare say, it is the most significant new commercial construction that is happening in Norwell, DeMarco said.

People are going to be talking about it a lot more now that weve broken ground on the project and those in the know are talking about it already, he said of the May 18 groundbreaking. The building is expected to open in late 2013.

With its 100 examination rooms, 70 medical offices, cafe, natural light-filled atrium, and landscaped grounds, the building is being constructed at a fortuitous time for the town, DeMarco said, since it represents an increase in the nonresidential tax base in Norwell on the heels of the recently approved $2.9 million property tax hike.

The new building will be the anchor of a medical campus in Assinippi Park, offering patients easier access, additional parking, less traffic, and more advanced diagnostic and treatment equipment, according to South Shore Medical Center, a division of Atrius Health, which has offices in Norwell, Weymouth, and Kingston.

This is the model of the future in medicine, said Dr. Stan Sacon, chief executive of the medical center, who spoke enthusiastically about the more integrated approach to patient health possible within a space that will allow doctors and medical staff to work alongside wellness specialists, nutritionists, and others.

Were really looking at the whole patient. The old-fashioned approach where it was a row of exam rooms and a doctors office doesnt work anymore, said Sacon, one of the cofounders of South Shore Medical Center, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

We need to do more than just treat illness, he said. We want to keep people as healthy as possible for as long as we can and not wait until they are sick it is good for the patient and it lowers the cost of health care, he said.

Half a century ago, Sacon started the group practice in a Norwell office building, bringing together general practitioners and specialists, a cutting-edge concept at a time when most doctors worked solo.

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Medical building work starts