St. Bernards
Healthcare and Arkansas Methodist Medical Center have announced plans that will
give a new and distinctive healthcare imprint along U.S. 49 in Paragould.
AMMC and St.
Bernards will develop Paragould Medical Park on a 48-acre plot located on the
west side of U.S. 49 north of the new Greene County Tech High School. The
development will be anchored by a primary care facility.
“The new medical park venture represents
another collaborative effort involving AMMC and St. Bernards,” says Barry
Davis, president and chief executive officer of Arkansas Methodist Medical
Center. “The most recent joint venture was the development of the Paragould
Wound Healing Center several months ago.”
“We are pleased to collaborate with AMMC to
provide convenient access to quality ambulatory healthcare services for
residents of Greene County, Northeast Arkansas and Southeast Missouri at this
new location,” says Chris B. Barber, president and chief executive officer of
St. Bernards Healthcare.
“The area
has nearly 1,000 feet of highway frontage and will be very easy for residents
to access regardless of their direction of travel on U.S. 49,” Barber
continues.
The
development will be just south of the route of the new U.S. 412 Bypass.
Preliminary
plans call for construction of a large structure that will accommodate clinical
offices of a number of Paragould primary care physicians who will see patients
seven days a week, including evening hours on weekdays. Primary care physicians
already committed to moving to the U.S. 49 location are Drs. Len Kemp, Lance
Monroe, Mack Shotts and Dwight Williams.
The facility
also will consolidate the clinical sites for specialists who serve patients in
Greene County and the surrounding area on
regularly scheduled clinic days. Those specialists include neurosurgeons,
plastic surgeons, general surgeons, behavioral health specialists,
nephrologists, oncologists and orthopedic surgeons and sports medicine
physicians.
Also
available at the new site will be lab services, imaging services, physical
therapy and rehabilitative services as well as preadmission testing for
patients who will be admitted to AMMC and St. Bernards.
Outparcels
will be available for development for businesses such as a pharmacy, a durable
medical equipment provider, dentists, branch banks, restaurants or other
healthcare providers.
The property
is highly visible and easy to get to, and it is in a location that is sure to
develop quickly once the new U.S. 412 Bypass is constructed, Davis says. “This
development gives Arkansas Methodist and St. Bernards an exceptional
opportunity to strengthen our relationship while providing quality primary care
and other health services in a convenient and easy-to-reach environment.”
“We are
extremely pleased with the level of physician interest and support in this
project,” Barber says.
Formal
groundbreaking ceremonies likely will be held in late summer or early fall. And
the facility is expected to be ready for use by the
summer of 2013.
Arkansas Methodist Medical Center is a 129-bed hospital
in Paragould that provides progressive, compassionate healthcare to residents
in Northeast Arkansas and Southeast Missouri. St.
Bernards Medical Center is a 438-bed acute care medical center which offers
comprehensive healthcare services and serves as a regional referral center for
a 23-county area in Northeast Arkansas and Southeast Missouri.