News Release
12/4/23
ALBUQUERQUE —
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico (BCBSNM) recently announced plans to open a 2,100-square-foot Blue Door Neighborhood CenterSM, a healthcare center that offers access to in-person health and wellness resources for members and the community at no cost, at 925 Las Estancias Way in Summer 2024.
“We believe that health care is local,” said BCBSNM President Janice Torrez. “It’s important for us to be in the neighborhoods where resources are needed. We’ve been serving people across New Mexico for more than 80 years, and we’re committed to improving the overall health of our communities.”
Representatives from the Albuquerque Regional Economic Alliance (AREA) assisted BCBSNM with the site selection process for the center by identifying properties that met the demographic, infrastructure, and workforce needs identified for the center. These resources are provided free-of-charge for any business that is searching for properties to locate or expand their business in the greater Albuquerque region.
“We’re proud to support local businesses like Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico with the data and resources that help them grow and thrive,” said AREA President & CEO Danielle Casey. “As the hub for business expansion resources, we not only provide tools to help streamline the site selection process, but we also facilitate connections to local and state financing and incentive programs and provide support for businesses to navigate issues related to workforce, public relations and governmental regulations.”
The Center will partner with community organizations and health care providers to offer a variety of resources and programming to impact community health, including targeting maternal health, diabetes, behavioral health and heart disease. There will also be no-cost wellness classes, connections to social services, customer engagement and more.
The Center will be located at 3925 Las Estancias Way, at the Las Estancias shopping center at Coors and Rio Bravo. Construction is expected to start in January on the 2,100-square-foot Center with a planned opening in the summer of 2024.
“Thrilled to see BCBSNM make a significant investment into the South Valley community,” said Steve Maestas, CEO of Maestas Development Group. “This will have a measurable impact toward improving the lives of those that live in the area.”
Staff at the Center will include a manager, health educator, community outreach specialist, community affairs concierge and customer service personnel. Hiring will focus on the multilingual needs of our members and the community, especially our Spanish-speaking population. Once the Center opens, there will be hiring fairs for open positions at BCBSNM, including customer service.
In 2019, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois opened the inaugural Blue Door Neighborhood Center in Chicago, which has now expanded to two more locations in the Chicago area with more than 50,000 visits from community members and nearly 5,000 no-cost events.
BCBSNM is meeting and gathering input from our members and the community to gain feedback on services and resources they would like available at the Center. To provide feedback, please email BlueDoor@bcbsnm.com.
AREA offers a comprehensive site selection tool that utilizes commercial property listing data from the Commercial Association of REALTORS New Mexico (CARNM) combined with data layers that can display infrastructure and demographics data customized to a specific property. For information about the tool, visit https://abqsites.com or www.abq.org/local-business/
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