Greenwood welcomes dental HQ

By William J. Booher
william.booher@indystar.com

A fast-growing, multistate dental business founded 23 years ago in the basement of an Indianapolis home has just relocated its corporate headquarters to Greenwood.

After all, said founder and chief executive officer Bill Mathews, 68, most of the 21 headquarters workers of Mid America Health Inc. live in the southern metropolitan region.

That includes Mathews, the company's chief executive officer, and his wife Jackie, the secretary-treasurer. They recently moved from Indianapolis to Bargersville.

The company relocated just a few weeks ago to the South Park Business Center along the west side of I-65 on Greenwood's Eastside. The modern office building provides more efficient working space, said Mathews, who moved his offices from an old warehouse building on State Avenue on Indianapolis' Near Eastside.

Greenwood Mayor Charles Henderson joined members of the Greater Greenwood Chamber of Commerce at a ribbon-cutting ceremony March 6, welcoming the company.

In this time of a struggling national economy, the relocation is fortunate for the Greenwood area. "This is even more exciting that ever," Henderson said. "We're blessed to have them here."

The company provides dental health services to inmates in correctional facilities in three states, including Indiana, and to military personnel at installations in 11 states across the nation.

Jackie Mathews has served as secretary-treasurer since 1986, when Bill started the company in the basement of their home on Dearborn Street, on Indianapolis' Near Eastside.

They were married in August 1968 in the first wedding held in the chapel of the new Louis Schwitzer Center on the campus of Indiana Central College, later renamed the University of Indianapolis, Bill Mathews said.

He is a 1968 graduate of the college and she attended while working for a finance company. They met in 1965 when both were working in New Castle at the finance company, she said.

Also, their son-in-law, Patrick Murphy, 38, Trafalgar, has been with the company nearly 12 years and has just been promoted to president.

"When I started, we had six employees. I was the seventh. Now there are about 420," Murphy said.

At least 60 of those workers, including dentists, are in Indiana, he said, and their average salary is $72,000 a year.

Mathews said he started his company with a $50,000 annual contract from the Indiana Department of Correction's Reception and Diagnostic Center in Plainfield. Now, he said, the company has grown to $30 million in contractual business a year.

Mathews majored in business administration and history in college and took some courses at the Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis.

"I'm not a dentist," said Mathews, who was a captain in the Army. "I just recognized the need in the Department of Correction. They were receptive. We were successful."

In Indiana, the correctional facilities that use Mid America Health now include the state prisons, some juvenile facilities and the Marion County Jail Annex in Indianapolis and a jail in Terre Haute. The company also has dental contracts with correction departments in Ohio and Kentucky.

The company operates in-house clinics to provide services at the larger prisons, and mobile vans to take services to the smaller correctional facilities, Murphy said.

The military installations served by the company are in California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

Additional Facts
MID AMERICA HEALTH INC.
What: Provides, under contract, dental health services to inmates in correctional facilities in three states, including Indiana, and to military personnel at installations in 11 states.

New home: Corporate headquarters relocated a few weeks ago to 1499 Windhorst Way in South Park Business Center on Greenwood's Eastside from Indianapolis' Near Eastside.

Information: Call toll free (888) 309-8239 or visit www.mahweb.com.