Mayo Clinic brings health care services to mega mall

Mayo Clinic opens shop at Mall of America.

If you wanted to bring personalized health care education and wellness to the masses, the Mall of America, Rochester, Minn., makes perfect sense as a place to open up shop. The nation's second largest shopping mall gets more than 40 million visitors annually.

By opening the new Create Your Mayo Clinic Health Experience at Mall of America, Mayo Clinic, also in Rochester, gives mall visitors the chance to individualize their health care knowledge, goals and strategies for free. The clinic also gives Mayo a way to develop relationships with potentially new patients.

"Millions of people visit Mall of America each year, and we view this as an opportunity to help people define and achieve their wellness goals to improve their overall quality of life by developing a partnership with Mayo Clinic," says Bryan Anderson, spokesman for the clinic.

The clinic features interactive kiosks with touch-screen computers where visitors can learn more about their health and engage in wellness evaluations. A wellness professional, or navigator, helps guests identify health goals and access information and resources, including some retail products, to achieve their objectives.

Information is available on health issues ranging from stress management to women's health to smoking-cessation and more. Physicians and nurses also offer some clinical services, which are fee-based. The primary space is approximately 2,500 square feet and a smaller clinical area is about 1,250 square feet.

The clinic is distinctive because it gives visitors the chance to customize their experience based on their personal needs, says David Hayes, M.D., a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic and project leader.