It used to be a gas station, a Save On Drugs and a practice facility for local athletes.
But on Monday morning, local dignitaries and officials cut the ribbon and walked the newly-renovated halls of the Main Street Rural Health Clinic — celebrating a new arm of family healthcare from the Trigg County Hospital.
Slowly, but surely, the facility has come together from idea to implementation, and TCH CEO John Sumner said it took the buy-in from the community and the hospital’s Board of Directors to make the project possible.
The staff includes familiar faces in Dr. Ellie Jolly, Christy Oliphant APRN, office manager Kellie Bush and Phlebotomy Technician Alison Lee — who, combined, have more than 35 years of medical training, experience and customer service.
For Jolly, it was an opportunity to come home and make good on a promise to care for those near Cadiz and in west Kentucky. This is something, she said, that had been discussed as far back as when she was in residency — and something many were hoping would eventually happen.
It’s no different for Oliphant, who — after different stints at Murray-Calloway County Hospital, St. Thomas and most recently Trigg County Schools — gets to work for her community, focusing on pediatrics and families.
Anyone driving by with memories of the gas station, pharmacy or practice facility might think the building is compact and cramped — and they would be the furthest from right. It has six multi-purpose exam rooms at least eight feet in width, two offices, a laboratory, a nurse’s station, a large reception area, a pair of patient bathrooms, a complete kitchen, two rooms for extra storage, an employee restroom and four exits.
The laboratory, meanwhile, has a medical fridge, a centrifuge and space for fluid analysis. Lee, who credits her career to a “wonderful” educational experience at Hopkinsville Community College, said one of the biggest bonuses the clinic can provide is her attachment to Jolly and Oliphant.
To say the staff has “hit the ground running” might be an understatement. As of noon Monday, 10 patients had already been seen — and Bush said a dozen more had been scheduled for the afternoon.
Jolly and Oliphant are both family-practice trained and expected to be full-time employees under TCH. Between the two, anyone from newborns to geriatrics can receive regular and specialized care.
Accepting new patients at this time, well-child care and women’s health needs are also services that can be provided at the clinic — which will be open 8 AM to 4:30 PM Monday-Friday. For more information, visit trigghospital.org or call a new phone number: (270) 512-0054.
