Ingalls Announces New Family Health Center

Tuesday, Huntington Ingalls announced the location of a new healthcare clinic to open next year. The clinic will make healthcare more accessible to Ingalls employees. The Gautier Singing River Health Clinic is an empty building. Singing River shut down their clinic earlier this year and Ingalls hopes to turn it into a family health center by mid-2015.

Employees can of course stay with their current doctors, but Ingalls will soon have this health center fully staffed as an additional choice for employees. Ingalls anticipates being able to reduce fees at this facility since it will be run by Huntington Ingalls itself. Because most shipbuilders work shift hours, the center will have extended hours to accommodate its employees, and it will also be large enough to care for all eligible dependents and spouses. Ingalls hopes having a convenient health center just a few minutes from the shipyard will help employees be more active in dealing with their health and wellness needs.

Edmond Hughes, Vice President of Human Resources for Ingalls, says, “Individuals who would otherwise not make that appointment, because it’s not convenient. You can schedule an appointment. You can have shorter wait times for individuals who use it, get annual flu shots, to get that annual physical, to get those routine things done that individuals normally kind of push off because it’s not convenient.”

In addition to routine healthcare, the center will also have nutritionists available. So far, human resources has received very positive feedback from employees.