Heart of Florida to build free-standing clinic in west Ocala

Dr. Cristen Dietz, DMD, examines the teeth of Kollette Bethea, 9, in the dental area at the Heart of Florida Health Center main office on East Silver Springs Boulevard in Ocala, Fla. on Wednesday, July 21, 2021. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2021.

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Posted July 22, 2021 | By James Blevins, Special to the Ocala Gazette

Fresh off the sale of its former dental building, The Heart of Florida Health Center is ready to expand again, this time with a free-standing clinic near State Road 200.

Heart of Florida CEO Jamie Ulmer said the $800,000 from the sale of the dental office at 255 S.E. 17th St. will help finance the clinic in west Ocala.

“It’ll be somewhere between 7,000 and 10,000 square feet,” said Ulmer. “It’ll be somewhere close to State Road 200 and will feature a drive-through pharmacy. It’ll be a major expansion for that west side location.”

But that’s not all the health center has on its plate.

“We’re also planning an expansion for our Dunnellon office,” Ulmer said. “We are in the process of purchasing land that’s next to us, and we’ll be expanding that building by approximately 2,500 square feet. That’ll be happening over the next month.”

Heart of Florida also has several projects currently underway and in various stages of completion.

At 1536 S. Pine Ave., the health center is presently renovating a former Wendy’s restaurant into a drive-through pharmacy which Ulmer said was awarded a certificate of occupancy by the city on July 16. According to his estimates, it should be up and running within the next two to three weeks.

Another pharmacy project in Belleview has recently completed construction, and Ulmer expects it to begin moving medications as early as next week.

All of this expansion, insisted Ulmer, is a result of meeting the needs of the community.

“What we found out is that with the COVID-19 pandemic, we really increased access to patients who didn’t know much about us. And now, we’re living up to the needs of patients who request more from us. We want to make sure that we’re providing services that will accommodate them,” he said, including COVID-19 vaccinations.

Ulmer stressed they have vaccines available at each of their seven locations in Marion County.

“We’re capable of giving vaccines to a significant amount of people,” Ulmer said. “Please, don’t hesitate to come and get vaccinated if you can. We’re here to serve you.”

The health center is open to all patients but was founded to serve the uninsured and under-insured.

The organization opened its new headquarters last June at 2553 E. Silver Springs Blvd. The space was once an Albertsons grocery store and consolidated several locations once spread across the city. Some locations, including the former dental clinic, became unnecessary.

But for local chiropractor Beau Makarewicz, who bought the former dental office through his company, Roman David Enterprises, it was a chance to expand his practice.

Makarewicz, who has practiced chiropractic medicine in Ocala since 2011, said the new practice will be named Mack Chiropractic and Injury. He hopes to open in about two months.

“I just took the opportunity to grow,” said Makarewicz. “I saw the opportunity to grow my business in a great location and took advantage of it. Now I’ll have more space and ownership in the building. And I think that’s a big thing.”