Josh Newblatt and Scott Bonzheim, longtime Clarkston residents and partners, will open Pine Knob Urgent Care Center in a 3,000-square-foot facility off Sashabaw Road near the new Starbucks.
They hope to fill the gap when Clarkston Medical Group sells their urgent care and imaging center to McLaren Health Care Corporation.
CMG’s Dr. Tim O’Neill said he expects the sale to be completed by the end of November. Residents expressed concern CMG’s urgent care center was closing.
O’Neill said McLaren plans to build onto the facility and transform it into an emergency room.
Newbatt said Bonzheim were aware McLaren was talking with CMG about selling.
“We have been looking for an opportunity to open our own place in Clarkston for quite a while. With CMG closing and the community expressing concern about the issue, we got really excited to announce our plans to our hometown. We kept plans quiet during the research and investment process, but when news broke about CMG closing, we thought we should put it out there,” Newblatt said.
He said like many in the community, he has great admiration and respect for CMG, its founder Dr. James O’Neill and his son Dr. Tim O’Neill.
“CMG and the O’Neill family have been so great for Clarkston, we want to build on that,” Newblatt said.
Pine Knob Urgent Care will open next spring.
“We will be open 12-14 hours at first, with hopes of 24 hours at some point.”
Clarkston High School’s Marketing class was tapped to help create a marketing plan after Newblatt spoke with CHS Principal Gary Kaul.
“He asked us if we would like to recruit the marketing class to help,” Newblatt said.
Both partners thought it was a great idea, and recruiting students to help with a marketing plan is a good example of community involvement.
“I thought it was really cool idea to get CHS students involved. They are going to help us with our logo and how we will advertise. Students are excited to be involved and we are excited to see what they will come up with,” Bonzheim said.
Involving students in the marketing plan is exactly the kind of community involvement they are aiming for.
“We want to make a difference in the community,” Newblatt said. “We really want the community to think of Pine knob Urgent Care as their urgent care.”
Newblatt and Bonzheim work together at Flint’s Hurley Hospital, a Level 1 Trauma Center. Newblatt has practiced emergency medicine at Hurley Hospital for the past 10 years.
“As a doctor, you see a lot at a Level 1 Trauma Center,” he said. “You also gain a lot of experience treating patients.”
Bonzheim is a physician’s assistant.
“I have worked in the emergency department at Hurley for 18 years,” he said.
He supervises emergency room physicians, the emergency room at Hurley and three urgent care centers for Hurley. He also owns an urgent care in Clio.
Their work in emergency medicine makes a big difference, he said.
“What will be unique about us is we will be staffed by people with ER experience. We are used to seeing anything from common colds to fractions to heart attacks and strokes. We are very comfortable treating all types of patients,” Newblatt said.
Working and investing in the community you live in is special, both said.
“I also own an urgent care in Clio,” Bonzheim said. “Clarkston is different because I live here. I have lived in Clarkston for 16 years.. My kids go to school here and both graduated from Clarkston High School.?
“Clarkston has been good to me growing up, I had great role models from my coaches to my teachers,? Newblatt said. ‘I had a lot of mentors and I have made a lot of great friends. I have raised four children here.”