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New Senior Health Unit Gets A Million Dollars from Walmart

By: Tyler Thomason

Updated: January 28, 2013

The world's largest retailer is helping out with local health care.

"It's huge, obviously a million dollars will go a long way," says Scott Street, CEO of Mercy Medical Center.

A seven-figure check, going directly to the seventh floor of Mercy medical center, where construction for a senior behavioral unit is already underway.

"We spent two years in Northwest Arkansas, talking to the communities in Northwest Arkansas about what is the biggest need," Street says.

That need: identified as extra attention to the ever-growing senior citizen population.

Mercy hospital cites a statistic from the Department of Health and Administration that shows a 15 percent increase among those 65 years and older.

A percentage expected to soar past 35 percent by 2020.

"This is meeting a need that our area has honestly needed for quite some time and by doing that they're allowing the patient to get the care here in Northwest Arkansas in their home area," says Karen Parker, senior manager of the Walmart Foundation.

Officials say the total cost is estimated around $5 million. and that the seventh-floor expansion will be geared toward treating sickness that's common among senior citizens.

"Dimentia. Alzheimer's. Two serious illnesses that hit the elderly population," Street says.

"There is just a huge need for a facility, to have a facility, to service those that are in that situation."

The new unit is expected to be up and running this summer, illustrating the purpose behind this generous presentation.

"We operate globally, we give back locally," Parker says.

"And it's very important to be good neighbors in our home area."