Heritage Health, located in Suite B at 1007 Harbor Hills Drive in Marquette, will be led by the expertise of Dr. Shawna Gleason, who is a doctor of osteopathic medicine and Karen Swenor, a nurse practitioner.

The duo will offer outpatient care for all ages. Their mission is “to improve the overall health of patients with a focus on maximizing quality of life at every stage,” according to a press release from the Lake Superior Community Partnership.

Gleason has practiced family medicine at Bell Hospital in Ishpeming for the last six years. She attended medical school at Michigan State University before participating in a residency program in Appleton, Wisconsin. Gleason specializes in osteopathic manipulation and is looking forward to opening her own office.

“It’s been a dream of mine to have an independent practice,” Gleason told The Mining Journal. “An old-fashioned type of clinic. My partner Karen (Swenor) and I talked about it and we would like to make this thing work out.”

An exam room is shown at Heritage Health, which is set to open Monday in Marquette. (Photo courtesy of Heritage Health)

Swenor is a nurse practitioner who has experience in private practice and family medicine. Swenor also specializes in wound care.

Notable services Heritage Health will provide include newborn and pediatric care, preventative and wellness care, same day and urgent care visits, mental health treatment, chronic disease management and end-of-life care.

“We offer everything that would be expected of an outpatient family medicine clinic,” Gleason said. “Physicals, check-ups for kids, preventative care, office visits, basic business, urgent care and a handful of procedures.”

Overall, Heritage Health will specialize in wound care and osteopathic manipulation.

While the clinic exists to provide basic medical needs, Gleason and Swenor hope their patients will feel like more than just another patient when going to Heritage Health.

“We really plan on creating a very customized care plan for our patients,” Gleason said. “We want to give them longer appointment times and more availability, with a smaller panel of patients to allow for that. It’s such an important part of family medicine to become integrated as part of a patient’s family. We want them to feel like they can look forward to seeing a family doctor (and make it) like something that they want to do and aren’t afraid to come to the doctor.

“We want to feel integrated and help take care of families too. Rather than one member of a family, maybe their husband, wife, kids or grandchildren. Knowing a lot more about a family goes a long way I think. We want to take a more comprehensive approach to their care. We want to know what’s going in in their lives, whether it’s a new job or something else.

“We try to hammer that down. It’s something Karen and I have had in common, there’s always more to the story. We don’t want someone to come in here just having a cold or diabetes, we want to get to know the person and their story.”

Heritage Health will officially open on Monday, Jan.

Hours will be 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday.

To schedule an appointment or learn more, call 906-262-0400 or visit www.heritagehealthup.com. For those who do not need an appointment at this time but want to become a patient, contact Heritage Health to get registered as a patient. Heritage Health can also be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/heritagehealthup/.

Ryan Spitza can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248. His email address is rspitza@miningjournal.net.