Avera to add Human Performance Center at 69th & Louise campus

Aug. 29, 2018

The Avera on Louise campus is adding another building – this one to support a range of services from strength and conditioning to physical therapy and volleyball.

The 60,000-square-foot, $14 million Human Performance Center will be built to the south and west of the current construction, which includes a 24-bed surgical hospital and a focus on orthopedics, gastroenterology, rheumatology and internal medicine, as well as the Avera Addiction Care Center.

It makes the campus a health care destination, said Dave Flicek, president and CEO of Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center.

“Avera is known for our holistic approach and philosophy as we care for the whole person – body, mind and spirit,” Flicek said. “Not only will this new facility help us better serve athletes of all ages and ability levels, it will promote overall health, wellness and balance throughout a lifetime.”

The Human Performance Center will support the needs of many of those patients as well as the broader community, said Ann Heiman, assistant vice president for orthopedics, therapy and sports medicine.

“It’s not just about sports. It’s about performance and athletes of all ages,” she said. “It will house a variety of services – from prevention to injury diagnosis, treatment, recovery, strength and conditioning, and maintenance. We’ll be housing all this in that facility.”

Many of those services are spread out across Sioux Falls, causing patients to be referred to various places, she said.

“This is an opportunity to integrate those services for cross-utilization … and for one central, integrated model. This is a medically integrated model. It’s not about courts, turf and equipment. It’s about integrated and complementary services.”

A sports medicine space will include a clinic offering nonoperative treatment, biomechanical evaluations and specialized instructions after an injury or concussion.

There also will be a modern therapy gym with an antigravity treadmill, Pilates equipment, isokinetic balance equipment, a gait-analysis treadmill with a 3-D motion-capture system, as well as an underwater treadmill and an aquatic therapy pool.

The center will accommodate everyone from an orthopedics patient to a student athlete or adult “weekend warrior,” Heiman said.

“We’ll have therapy for the community regardless of their age or activity level,” she said. “It will be a really great clinic.”

The building will be home to Athletic Republic, Avera’s sports performance training program in Sioux Falls. This area includes a biomechanics lab, cardio equipment room, performance weight room, cycling room, turf and plyometrics floor. Specialized equipment includes super treadmills and a hockey treadmill. The space will include a room for movement classes such as yoga, Pilates, tai chi and more. It will be home to AR-FIT classes for active adults of all ages.

Sports psychology and sports nutrition also will be included in the new center.

The facility will house features for the general population too, including a nutrition bar, cycling center and mind-body fitness center.

A gym will provide space for seven volleyball courts and become the new home of the Avera Sports Kairos elite volleyball program, which reaches 3,500 athletes and doesn’t have its own physical location.

“We rent gyms everywhere, so we’ll be able to house that in one location,” Heiman said.

A second phase will become the future home of Avera Sports Warwick Workouts and South Dakota Attack Basketball, which operate out of the Avera Sports Center at 85th Street and Minnesota Avenue, though a time frame hasn’t been set.

Avera plans to keep that location as well as the Avera Sports Dome near 41st Street and West Avenue .

Construction of the first phase of the Human Performance Center will start in the fall, and the building is scheduled to open in December of 2019. The Avera Addiction Care Center at Avera on Louise will open in September of 2019, and the surgical hospital and medical office building will open in October of 2019.

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Avera to add Human Performance Center at 69th & Louise campus

The Avera on Louise campus is adding another building – this one to support a range of services from strength and conditioning to physical therapy and volleyball.

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