Following through on a three-year plan to expand health services in Richmond’s East End, Bon Secours announced this week the expansion of obstetrics and gynecology services on its Richmond Community Hospital campus, and plans to open a $2 million urgent care center by year’s end.

Dr. Samuel Campbell, an OB-GYN specialist, is now seeing patients at Bon Secours Richmond OB/GYN at Richmond Community Hospital, located in the Richmond Community Medical Office Building at 1510 N 28th Street, Suite 204.

Dr. Campbell’s presence is part of the Bon Secours plan to beef up services in 12 specialty areas at Richmond Community in the next 36 months.

The plan, titled “Community Today, Community Tomorrow: Pathway to Wellness in the East End,” was unveiled at the grand opening of the new office building and came amid criticism that has died down now that the health system investing enough in its East End hospital.

The new urgent care center also will be located inside the new office building, Ms. Green stated, and is anticipated to take up about 5,000 square feet or about 20 percent of the building’s space. It will be in addition to a wellness clinic that Bon Secours already has opened, she stated.

The center is to have eight exam rooms, X-ray and imaging space and on-site labs and 10 to 12 staff members, she stated.

Bon Secours plans to operate the center from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, she stated, with the care center closed only on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.

The giant nonprofit health system anticipates serving 12,000 or more patients a year who need “care for conditions that need attention” such as illnesses and injuries, while reducing pressure on the hospital’s emergency department, Ms. Green stated.

To maintain staffing, she stated that Bon Secours also would be hiring radiology techs, certified medical assistants, receptionists, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

The Bon Secours Urgent Care, East End, is one of five such centers Bon Secours is in the process of adding in the Richmond area. Currently, Bon Secours only has one urgent care center located in Glen Allen.

During the next six months, Bon Secours plans to develop and open two urgent care centers in the Midlothian and Swift Creek areas of Chesterfield County and two others in Regency Square and on Nuckols Road in Henrico County.

Urgent care centers are seen as offering quicker and more convenient care, according to Mike Lutes, president of Bon Secours Richmond.