Bend Memorial Clinic plans to expand in Redmond, increasing its staff fivefold and adding more lab services and specialties by March.

It’s the second major change for BMC in Redmond in less than a year. The clinic added oncology and pulmonology earlier this year. Over the coming months, the clinic will move to a new location and add primary care, urgent care, cardiology and allergy care.

The clinic runs three Bend locations and one each in Redmond and Sisters, and it employs about 450 people.

Patients will also be able to have tests conducted at the new Redmond location, which will have X-ray, CT scan and an in-house laboratory — all of which will be new to the Redmond operation.

“The idea is to have primary care services that are fully self-contained, so patients won’t have to run to another lab (for tests),” CEO Marvin Lein said.

The expansion came now in part because rents are cheap, so the clinic didn’t have to make a major up-front investment, Lein said.

“Sometimes in a down economy, you’ll find it’s the best opportunity to expand,” Lein said.

The clinic will move from Northeast Canal Boulevard to a building on Southwest Veterans Way, four blocks west of U.S. Highway 97. The new location will roughly double the size of the clinic’s Redmond operations, Lein said.

Along with more services, the expansion will bring more jobs to Redmond, according to Lein. The new clinic will have 15 full-time employees, up from three. Lein wasn’t certain exactly how many of the new location’s staff will be new hires and how many will transfer from other locations.

Several medical specialists will also rotate through the Redmond location, according to Lesley Camire, a clinic service line director.

“We’re enhancing our current services as well as adding new ones,” Camire said.

Redmond City Manager David Brandt found out about the expansion on Monday and said he was thrilled with the news. Brandt said the expansion fills a gap in the community.

“It’s adding more jobs, but more importantly, it’s adding more medical services I think the community needs,” Brandt said.

Lein emphasized that the expansion will help the clinic meet patient needs better in outlying areas. About 15 percent of the clinic’s patients live in northern Deschutes County.

“We are a Central Oregon regional provider,” Lein said. “Being in Redmond with a limited specialty scope limited our ability to serve patients.”