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Avera Health and Owens & Minor Inc., a Fortune 500 global health care company, officially open their new integrated service center this week.

The 330,000-square-foot building is at Foundation Park in northwest Sioux Falls. A ribbon cutting is scheduled at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday on West Memory Circle.

Virginia-based Owens & Minor designs, manufactures and sources health care products. The company has provided medical supplies to Avera since 2012, but this is its first location in South Dakota.

The company is leasing more than 170,000 square feet and expects to employ about 50 people there.

“This state-of-the-art facility will be used to distribute essential medical and surgical products to health care organizations across a five-state region,” said Andy Long, executive vice president and CEO of products and health care services at Owens & Minor.

“It is designed to integrate operational efficiencies, providing real-time visibility and quality measures to help drive the efficiencies and high-service levels our customers expect from Owens & Minor.”

Products warehoused for distribution include anything that a hospital would need to operate, from N95 respirators to surgical wrap, gloves, gowns, kits for surgical procedures and more, he said.

“We’re proud to officially join the Sioux Falls business community, continuing our commitment to health care medical distribution in South Dakota,” Long said. “Having a stronger presence in the region drives enhanced efficiencies with current and future customers, strengthening our ability to support health care within these communities.”

Avera will occupy about 155,000 square feet and has started to move in with a phased approach, aimed at being fully operational by midyear. The facility creates an integrated service center hub for managing and coordinating medical supply logistics.

“This building allows us move products, supplies, pharmaceuticals and more out of smaller spaces throughout our organization, bring them into one building and service back out to the masses in a more efficient process, instead of having a lot of different functions spread out,” said Sara Henderson, vice president for supply chain at Avera Health.

It will house numerous Avera services, including:

• Centralized pharmacy services.
• Supply chain, serving as central distribution for supplies for Avera hospitals, clinics and long-term care centers.
• Biomedical engineering, the department that maintains medical capital equipment, including patient monitors, beds, diagnostic technology and more.
• Home medical equipment distribution center.
• Print shop.
• Courier operations.

There’s also space for larger medical products, including capital equipment that can be staged for other buildings, such as the new women and children’s tower at Avera McKennan.

“We’re also able to bring our home medical equipment and our hospital business together in the same space, which creates better flow and more efficiency,” Henderson said. “Throughout the process, we’ve discovered ways to maximize the expertise within our organization and create added value.”

The Avera Integrated Services Center will consolidate Avera outpatient pharmacy operations as well as the Avera hospital pharmacy distribution center.

“There will be many efficiencies gained in our processes for medication procurement, storage, compounding, dispensing and inventory management,” said Melissa Goff, vice president of pharmacy at Avera.

“By streamlining medication distribution tasks, this will allow more time for our pharmacists to focus on direct patient care and optimizing therapy outcomes.”

The additional space also will allow for Avera to procure bulk, cost-reduced pharmaceuticals, as well as “anticipatory purchasing of products experiencing national shortages in an effort to meet the needs of our Avera hospitals and clinics,” Goff said.

The connectivity to Owens & Minor is an added benefit, Henderson said.

“We have a door that literally goes into their space, so we can coordinate logistics of delivery instead of having multiple trucks going,” she said. “We’ll be able to work closely together to understand inventory levels we’ll want to have stored on their side, plus they’re four hours closer now. So that gives us even more resiliency to get our deliveries to sites.”

For Owens & Minor, the location “allows for our distribution operations to effectively serve communities across a five-state region,” Long said.

The new building is the latest to open at Foundation Park, which added FedEx Freight recently and has seen construction begin on the new CJ Schwan’s Asian food production facility.

“We are thrilled to have both Avera and Owens & Minor joining the list of tenants in Foundation Park,” said Dean Dziedzic, vice president of economic development for the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.

“This is a perfect fit because it meets our mission of landing companies in some of our key industries: health care and biosciences. Also, both of these companies will pay well above median wages.”

Both sides of the building will utilize technology.

The Avera side will incorporate robotics, both in a conveyor format within the specialty pharmacy area and as a way to move product from one place to another throughout the building.

Robotics within the pharmacy operations will improve efficiencies in medication procurement, dispensing and transport, as well as assist in the repackaging of medications.

“Pharmacy automation can also improve safety and accuracy in dispensing medications by adding another layer of verification through barcode technology,” Goff said, adding that also frees up pharmacists to focus more on clinical work and patient engagement.

“I am beyond excited for the opportunities that lie ahead given the advanced technology, additional space, integration and collaboration that will now be at our fingertips with this new building. It will take our ability to serve our communities to the highest level and remove many barriers that currently exist to expand pharmacy services and improve the patient experience.”

Owens & Minor will use augmented reality through “Vision Pick technology.”

“This technology, which is device-driven, is used to drive the picking of products within the facility to enhance efficiency,” Long said.

Positions range from supervisors, operators and coordinators for warehouse, transportation, inventory and logistics. To view all current job openings, visit owens-minor.com/careers.

Avera largely is relocating employees from other sites to the new building. There’s also room to expand as needed, Henderson said.

“This building has the ability to scale,” she said. “We have space in each area to grow into as we go.”

Independence Day, 2021, took on added significance for the Clark family as they arrived in Sioux Falls from Oregon and made the city their new home.

“Much like every other person during COVID, we were just ready for a big shakeup in our life,” Aleah Clark said.

Fifth grade was cut short in the classroom for Tyler and Aleah Clark’s daughter, Peyton, as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.

By sixth grade, the only option for the Oregon family was attending their local school online. As seventh grade approached, the option was going to be a hybrid model with in-person class part of the week.

Photo by Jason Davis

For an only child, finding a place where Peyton could return to a normal school life “was important to us,” Aleah said. “It was pretty isolating. So we were happy to get her to Sioux Falls, and we got her all signed up for school.”

Whittier Middle School “provided a great experience” for her daughter as has Washington High School, she said.

“My daughter is super-active and has really thrived since we moved here. She really got into trying new things and started doing show choir, which she loves.”

Peyton also has continued her love for cheerleading and now has a summer job at a coffee shop.

“It’s absolutely a night-and-day difference for her,” Tyler said. “She just took off immediately and is the kind of girl who makes friends super-fast, so she’s involved in all kinds of activities and got her driver’s license at 14 and now gets to brag about that back in Oregon.”

Back in Oregon, where they both grew up, their family and friends understand the move, Tyler said.

“They understand how difficult it is to conduct business or do business in Oregon,” he said. “Everything is limiting out there — regulations, politics, the way all the agencies are set up is crazy.”

For instance, he’s a licensed contractor who still manages some properties the couple owns in their native state. When he goes through testing in Oregon, “it’s all about consumer protection, and there’s nothing about building code,” he said.

“I got licensed by the city of Sioux Falls, and that was the first time I’d ever been tested on or required to understand building codes.”

They’re both licensed real estate agents who have worked in residential, commercial and multifamily markets. But when it came to decide where to move themselves, “we were kind of dart-on-a-map people,” Aleah said. “I wanted to have an area where we could have all four seasons, and I wanted to feel like part of a community but still be in a more rural area.”

The state of South Dakota’s wage calculator website figured into their design.

“I used it pretty heavily to compare Oregon and South Dakota, and South Dakota with other states, and it really helped with all the tax benefits being a family here,” she said. “The biggest thing is not having state income tax. In Oregon, we don’t have sales tax, but we have state income tax, and it’s pretty significant. And the housing there is really tight, with way more bidding wars and rising prices.”

In the Sioux Falls area, they were able to find an acreage in Renner that still made them part of the Sioux Falls School District. Earlier this year, when it was time to renew her real estate license, Aleah opted to move it to South Dakota, “and it was really easy to do that here,” she said.

Now, as part of the Amy Stockberger Real Estate team, she’s helping others buy and sell homes throughout the Sioux Falls area.

“It’s been a lot of fun, and I even now have a client trying to relocate from Oregon,” she said. “I wish I would have found Amy’s office when we were looking for a house. They have so many services for people and team collaboration, and I have been fully welcomed into it. If you’re new here and need a roofer or plumber, we make those connections. We even help you find a date-night spot. It’s all about getting connected to your community.”

The Clark family’s experience is a perfect example of what others will find in Sioux Falls, said Denise Guzzetta, vice president of talent and workforce development for the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.

“I love how they were seeking a better experience for their daughter, and that extended to the whole family,” she said.

“Teens like Peyton find so many ways to get involved in our community, from early work experience to extracurriculars of all kinds. And the business-first approach that Tyler and Aleah have experienced is exactly what we pride ourselves on in Sioux Falls. I have no doubt they both will find success in their industries here.”

Since becoming South Dakotans, Aleah has embraced an annual pheasant hunt — “it’s my favorite thing to do every year,” she said. And they both “really enjoy being out here,” Tyler said. “I’m really looking into trying to get involved in some agriculture-related out here, which would be a totally different change of pace.”

They’ve also adopted another dog since the move and now have three.

“I love all the things for dog moms — the Splash Bark and all the things,” she said.

“And we really love all the local breweries and love downtown so much. Early after our move, I got a job at Severance Brewing, and that was a lot of fun, so I still pick up shifts here and there because it’s a great place to meet people. We love the 605 Made Night Market, the farmers markets, and I could go on and on.”

Within six months, she knew “I couldn’t imagine moving away,” she said. “That’s why I want to help other people, whether they’re deciding to move for a life change like we did or their career. I want to help people know all about Sioux Falls as quickly as possible.”

To learn more about building your career in Sioux Falls, reach out to deniseg@siouxfalls.com.