ROGERS — Mercy will regain a visible presence downtown later this year.
The medical system broke ground Wednesday on a 7,500-square-foot clinic on the northeast corner of Second and East Locust streets, in front of Harps Foods.
At A Glance
Mercy Clinics
The new downtown Rogers clinic will be at 613 N. Second St. and sit on 1.39 acres. It will provide lab and X-ray services on-site.
• Downtown Rogers is Mercy’s fourth clinic announcement in the past nine months.
• The medical system also broke ground on a 7,351-square-foot health center in Centerton last month.
• The health care provider opened a new Bella Vista clinic in December and a new clinic off Rainbow Curve in Bentonville last summer.
• Mercy operates 23 clinics in Northwest Arkansas.
Source: Staff Report
Dr. Steve Goss, president of Mercy Clinic Northwest Arkansas, said the clinic is scheduled to open in September or October with three family practice physicians and a nurse practitioner.
Mercy's hospital was on Walnut Street close to downtown until moving next to Interstate 540 near Pinnacle Hills Promenade in 2008.
"Rogers needed something downtown," said Dr. David Garrett. "Towns grow around a hospital, like they do a courthouse."
Garrett will be one of the clinic's physicians. He joined the staff of Rogers Medical Center in 1979 and later moved to a clinic near NorthWest Arkansas Community College. Two years ago he moved back to a clinic at 1110 W. Elm St. in downtown Rogers.
The new clinic will replace the Elm Street office. Garrett said the new clinic will be visible; the current clinic is off the main road and hidden behind businesses on Walnut Street.
Goss expects business to be good at the 2nd Street clinic because of the location and the providers. He said Garrett is one of the system's busiest family practice physicians.
"This new clinic allows us to expand out access points in the community," Goss said.
A new downtown Rogers medical clinic was part of Mercy's $90 million plan it announced in 2011. The plan had three main points -- clinics in Bella Vista and downtown Rogers and a build-out of the hospital's seventh floor. The Bella Vista Clinic opened at the intersection of Dartmoor and Lambeth roads in December and a Senior Behavioral Health Program started on the seventh floor in June.
Mercy is naming the clinic's lobby and community room after Dick and Nancy Trammel to honor their longtime commitment to the medical system.
"I've been turning that corner for 39 years," Dick Trammel said while pointing to the intersection of Second and East Locust. "And I hope to turn it for another 39 years."
He said having the clinic in that part of town is putting care closer to the people who need it.
Goss said he expects the clinic to pull in patients from the Beaver Lake area and neighboring rural communities. The clinic will eventually operate extended hours, including nights and weekends, he said.
A portion of northeast Benton County was identified as a primary care health professional shortage area in a report recently released by the Arkansas Department of Health. "Arkansas's Big Health Problems and How We Plan to Solve Them" shows the largest shortage areas are in rural areas.
"This clinic does not solve all the access problems, but it is a step in the right direction," he said.
Laura Hamilton, Garfield mayor, said many of her town's 502 residents travel to Rogers or Bentonville for medical care. She said the 20 to 25 minutes it takes her to drive to Rogers isn't a problem, but it could be a problem for people with multiple health issues.
"This new clinic will be much more convenient and save people from having to drive across town," she said.
Garrett said some people, particularly elderly patients, don't like driving through town or going to a large building to see a doctor.
Rogers Mayor Greg Hines said the clinic ties in well with the city's downtown revitalization plan. Gateway Planning recently started the study that will help make downtown a destination.
"This is part of a greater cause," Hines said. "We need to create a sustainable and vibrant downtown."
NW News on 04/10/2014