CENTERBURG — Centerburg-area residents have a new option for walk-in health care.
Heart of Ohio Wellness Center opened Thursday at 108 N. Hartford Ave.
“Our goal is to provide convenient, affordable walk-in care,” said Phyllis Sim, owner and certified family nurse practitioner.
The center will treat conditions such as sinusitis, skin rashes and urinary tract infections, among others. Other services include immunizations, sports physicals and personal, supervised weight loss programs.
The center is cash pay with visits starting at $45. Sim accepts major credit and debit cards and will provide an itemized statement the patient can submit to their insurance carrier.
Patients undergo a full assessment before being treated. They do not need a physician referral to visit the clinic.
Sim said an important part of Heart of Ohio Wellness Center is IV nutrition and peptide-related care. Peptides are strings of amino acids. Amino acids build protein.
“IV nutrition is vitamins for all age groups, but mostly the older adults because they are the ones who are not getting the vitamins that their bodies need,” Sim explained.
“When you get to a certain age, your stomach lining does not absorb the vitamins. Also, older adults don’t eat the way they’re supposed to.”
While older adults are the primary demographic, Sim feels the nutrition therapy can fill two niche markets: the Amish community and MMA (mixed martial arts) fighters in the Columbus area.
“From what I understand, the Amish would rather get an IV immunity, which would be a lot of your vitamin B and C, as opposed to an antibiotic,” she said.
“I know MMA fighters will come in here after they fight because they need to be hydrated and their amino acids replaced.”
Years of walk-in experience
Sim was born and raised on a farm in Millwood. She did a preceptorship with Dr. Edward Blackburn in Fredericktown while she earned her master’s degree.
She worked with Blackburn at Fredericktown Family Practice for three years, then opened and operated the walk-in clinic at Foster’s Pharmacy on West High Street from 2011 to 2018.
Burned out and exhausted, Sim retired to Florida. Retirement did not last long.
“You can only do so much beach and so much sand. So I ended up working for a physician,” she said.
The physician offered ER2U, a mobile emergency room that traveled to people’s houses providing services.
Tiring of the hurricane weather in Florida, Sim returned to Knox County in 2024 and “laid low” while undergoing cataract surgery and hip replacement.
She initially looked for clinic space in the eastern part of the county, and then Fredericktown. Finding space that was handicap accessible with sufficient parking was difficult.
“For five months I searched, and finally I saw this location pop up,” Sim said. “We weren’t even ready to start a walk-in clinic.”
Heart of Ohio Wellness Center is in Centerburg’s old mill, next to Pizza Burg. It is open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 8-5; Tuesday 12-8 pm; and Friday 8-1.
EMT and medical assistant Isaiah Johnson and a nurse will support Sim at the center. Johnson is a certified anti-aging specialist.
The center will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 11:30 a.m.
“My hope is that people in our community can have both affordable everyday care and access to well-considered wellness services close to home,” Sim said.
