Lindsay Craven | The Yadkin Ripple
An exam room is ready for service at the new Yadkin County Medical Clinic. Kim Harrell, Director of Human Services, says that the new exam rooms allow medical staff and patients more room for care.
Lindsay Craven | The Yadkin Ripple
A patient is checked in at the Yadkin County Medical Clinic. All of the staff from the previous health clinic location has moved to the new location.
Lindsay Craven | The Yadkin Ripple
The Yadkin County Medical Clinic is located at 638 W. Main St. in Yadkinville at Yadkin Valley Community Hospital. The entrance to the facility is next door to the new Yadkin County Emergency Services location.
The Yadkin County Health Department Medical Clinic is experiencing some changes.
After a vote by county commissioners combined the county’s health department and department of social services into one entity, the newly formed human services department will experience more changes.
The health department medical clinic has been moved to 638 W. Main St. in Yadkinville, inside of Yadkin Valley Community Hospital and will not be referred to as the Yadkin County Medical Clinic.
The move comes in response to the county needing to free up space to house probation officers.
“About three years ago the state said that counties have to start providing space for probation officers,” County Manager Aaron Church said. “This is what was called an unfunded mandate from the state.”
Church said the county moved some officers to the community services building, the courthouse and a location that the county had to rent. Church said that the rental space has cost the county $15,000 to $20,000 a year.
“The state wanted us to have all of the officers together so we were looking for a place that would fit them all,” Church said. “The adult protective services office is the perfect space, and the county already owns the building.”
Next the county looked toward an area where it could move the adult protective service employees and offices.
County officials decided it would be most beneficial to renegotiate the lease with HMC, the company that owns Yadkin Valley Community Hospital, since the county already owns that property.
“We renegotiated our lease with [HMC] to get a section of the hospital for the new medical clinic,” Church said. “We moved in adult protective services into the former health department clinic area.”
This would leave only social service entities such as WIC, food and nutrition services and adult and children’s Medicaid in the health department space.
“I think adult protective services moving to the social services department will put all of the benefits of that part of the agency in one area,” said Kim Harrell, Human Services agency director. “This allows people who use more than one of the department’s services one location to go to.”
About 10 county employees spent a week preparing the new location. Church said it cost the county approximately $1,300 to get the clinic running.
The county will benefit from the move with the elimination of rent for probation officer office space. Church estimates that the county will save approximately $180,000 over the next 10 years in rent alone. He notes this a minimum savings for the county.
Harrell said there will be no changes to the clinic’s services and the seven employees who worked at the clinic’s previous location have moved to the new location.
It’s a much better, larger space for them to work in as far as the medical exam rooms,” said Harrell.
Church said that this move was not something the county made a recent decision on.
It was not a new concept that the medical clinic would move to the hospital,” Church said. “The health directors that have been here since I started here have wanted to move the clinic to the hospital. It makes sense to move the medical portion of health services into a medical facility.”
Harrell and Church hope that the new clinic will not only better serve the community but will keep Yadkin County citizens healthier.
“Before you had mothers and children who are not sick coming to get assistance from WIC, and they are in a waiting room with sick patients,” Church said. “This will cut down on kids who are not sick catching something because they won’t be in the medical clinic.”
The clinic can still be reached at 336-679-4203.
Reach Lindsay Craven at 679-2341 or at lcraven@civitasmedia.com.
Post a Comment
