Revolution Health welcomed to Colon community
A ceremonial ribbon cutting Wednesday celebrated the opening of a full-service medical clinic in Colon.
Revolution Health, located at 121 E. Franklin St., opened a month ago. Wednesday’s fanfare was organized by the Colon Chamber of Commerce and its president, Mike Smoker.
The clinic was started by Jade Klingler, a Sturgis High School alumna and doctor of general practice. She said her field of care crosses the spectrum, ranging from birth to death.
She also oversees the original Revolution Health, at the southeast corner of U.S. 12 and Lakeview Avenue, in Sturgis.
Klingler said she had previously worked in Colon at a Sturgis Hospital-affiliated clinic, where she established a solid rapport with a growing patient base. That professional relationship started about 10 years ago.
The 40-year-old Klingler later branched out on her own and opened Revolution Health in Sturgis. Klingler said about 30 percent of her business was from the patients she saw in Colon. Eventually, she said, the wheels started turning, which led to her establishing her second clinic.
“It got to a point where we had to decide whether to add on to our Sturgis building, find a larger building in Sturgis or consider a satellite location to complement the Sturgis practice,” Klingler said. “Literally a day after this conversation, this building went up for sale … it was absolutely fate.”
Within a week, Klingler and her husband, Steve, had lunch with the Realtor, decided to pursue the opportunity and reached an agreement. Klingler said she trusted her gut feeling that the Colon location was absolutely meant to be.
Considering the closest medical facility is at least 20 minutes in any direction from Colon, Klingler said, there was no doubt Revolution Health in Colon is in a perfect location.
“There are so many people in and around Colon who don’t get medical care, either in an emergency or in general,” she said. “We’ve got Leonidas, Athens, Colon, a large population that is medically deprived, so this just seemed logical.”
The Colon site is open Monday through Friday. Its services include walk-in and urgent care.
Between the Sturgis and Colon facilities, Revolution Health has an employee roster of about two dozen people. Klingler said she plans to split her time between the two locations as long as circumstances allow.
“The opening of a medical facility in Colon is huge, there’s no way to minimize that,” she said, explaining a benefit of being a private practice. “People get to choose where they want to go for any testing; it doesn’t lock them into anything.”
During remarks prior to the ribbon cutting, Klingler reminded a crowd of more than 50 onlookers that Colon is where her medical career began.
“This is where I started, this is the heart and foundation of my medical experience,” she said. “This is the town that made me who I am. I always knew I was going to come back, so being back here, being true to my roots and being true to the community, it fills my heart.”
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Revolution Health welcomed to Colon community
