Truckers, warehouse employees can get basic health care at this Modesto workplace
The truckers and warehouse workers at Dot Foods can now get basic health care right at the south Modesto business.
So can their spouses and children, under a concept that Dot is spreading across its 12 distribution centers in the United States, at minimal cost to families.
The company expects that about 400 local employees and dependents will use the Dot Foods Family Health Center. It opened in a 1,440-square-foot modular building in late March and had a belated ribbon-cutting Wednesday.
“If you’re feeling under the weather, coming here is what we want you to do,” said Matt Holt, vice president of human resources for Dot.
Open three days a week
The clinic is staffed three days a week by a physician’s assistant and medical assistant. They provide annual physicals, vaccinations, lab work, prescriptions, health education and certain other services. They refer patients to doctors for serious matters.
The clinic is part of the health benefits for Dot.
The warehouse on Nickerson Drive, just north of Whitmore Avenue, dates to 1995. The company handles about 125,000 distinct food items from about 1,000 manufacturers, part of the supply chain for retailers and restaurants in the U.S. and Canada. The Modesto site serves Northern California.
Employee health centers are more common in Silicon Valley than the Central Valley, said Tori Salemi, human resources manager for Dot in Modesto.
The Modesto center is operated by Premise Health, a Tennessee-based company that specializes in providing care at workplaces.
Dot began in Illinois
Dot was founded in Mt. Sterling, Illinois, in 1960 and now employs about 6,500 people. It opened its first employee health center in Georgia in 2013. Others followed in Illinois, Oklahoma, Idaho, Indiana and now Modesto. The company plans to have them in the other six U.S. locations within two years.
The Modesto center can do the health screenings required to drive semis. The staff will educate people about diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol and other concerns.
Office visits for chronic conditions such as these are among the examples of the free services, said Emily Waterman, corporate communications manager for Dot. Patients can get lab work “at a greatly reduced rate.”
The center is open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Those hours are designed for the varying schedules at Dot, a 24-7 workplace.
The company is hiring as it continues to deal with supply-chain issues prompted by COVID-19. More information is at www.dotfoods.com.
This story was originally published May 6, 2022 at 6:30 AM.
