Published on January 17, 2025

Specialty Laboratory Closed Indefinitely Following Tuesday’s Fire

The Owensboro Health Specialty Laboratory, located at the Owensboro Healthplex, is closed indefinitely following a fire that occurred on Tuesday morning. The site is located at the Owensboro Healthplex (formerly the Springs) on 2200 East Parrish Avenue in Owensboro—often referred to as Highway 54. Providers and patients are encouraged to utilize other health system locations for lab draws, according to Interim Laboratory Director Megan Brown.

“The cause of the fire is still under investigation, so we have not been able to enter the building or assess the damage,” Brown said. “The building is closed until further notice, but there are other options available—including one on the Healthplex campus in Building D.”

Specialty Lab building exterior
The Specialty Laboratory after opening in September 2024.

Since the fire, some patients have shown up unaware that the building was closed, Brown said. She expects a fence and signage will be installed soon to help address the issue.

Firefighters responded early Tuesday morning to a fire at Building H on the Owensboro Healthplex campus—which houses both Specialty Lab and the well-known Italian restaurant Niko’s. Investigators are still working to determine the cause of the fire.

After a year of planning and development, the Specialty Laboratory opened in September 2024 and became the system’s 16th lab collection site. The location was designed to provide walk-in services to patients with minimum wait times.

See the full list of alternative Owensboro Health laboratory locations.

About Owensboro Health

Owensboro Health is a nonprofit health system with a mission to heal the sick and to improve the health of the communities it serves in Kentucky and Indiana. The system includes Owensboro Health Regional Hospital, nationally recognized for design, architecture and engineering; Owensboro Health Muhlenberg Community Hospital; Owensboro Health Twin Lakes Medical Center; the Owensboro Health Medical Group comprised of over 350 providers at more than 30 locations; three outpatient Healthplex facilities, a certified medical fitness facility, the Healthpark; a weight management program, and the Mitchell Memorial Cancer Center.

On average each year, we have more than 19,000 inpatient admissions, deliver 2,000 babies and provide the region’s only Level III NICU. Owensboro Health physicians perform nearly 33,000 surgical procedures, including nearly 150 open-heart surgeries. Our physicians and staff have 90,000 Emergency Department visits and more than 1.25 million outpatient visits annually. Visit our home page for more information.