The new state-of-the art Lowndes County Health Department has seen a flurry of activity since opening on Aug. 25.
The facility has had to stay open past 5 p.m. to accommodate all its patients.
“People feel safer out here, and the place is just beautiful — it”s state of the art and laid out very well,” said Brenda Martin, office manager.
The old facility on Military Road was in a high-crime area, and the building was “real run down,” she said, which discouraged people from coming, despite the health department”s numerous services.
“We offer good service, which we offered over there, but because it”s a brand-new building, people want to come to a new building and it”s safer,” Martin said.
“We kind of anticipated that happening because of the better location,” Lowndes County District 1 Supervisor and Board President Harry Sanders said of the influx of clients. “That”s one of the reasons we built the health department bigger than the old health department.”
The previous health department facility, a 60-year-old two-story building, made patient flow inefficient.
“Sometimes people had longer wait times because of having to be seen on different floors by different people,” said Karen McPherson, public health administrator for District 4, which includes Calhoun, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Clay, Lowndes, Monroe, Noxubee, Oktibbeha and Webster counties.
And, “Because of the deterioration of the building, part of the building was not able to be used,” said Sanders, adding the new building is at a more convenient location for the county as a whole.
“It”s halfway between the New Hope and Caledonia communities, and people in West Lowndes can get to it easy by getting on the bypass,” he said.
McPherson noted the heavier traffic also was due to people anticipating the opening of the new building at the corner of Lehmberg and Warpath roads in East Columbus.
“We had a bunch of appointments canceled because they were waiting until we opened the new facility,” McPherson said.
“It”s really a marvelous building, and we”re all proud of it,” Sanders said. “We”re glad. Those are great employees out there. We finally have got a building that measures up to the quality of the work they do out there.”
“We appreciate everyone — the Board of Supervisors, the (Mississippi Development Authority) for the grant and the citizens for calling (their supervisors about the old building),” Martin said.
The facility cost the county $1.8 million; the county also secured a $600,000 MDA Community Development Block Grant for the project and purchased the property on which the facility was built for about $200,000.
The project is funded through a portion of the county”s interest accrued through the 2006 sale of Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle for $30 million to Baptist.
The health department has a staff of about 30 people, including office personnel, two social workers, two nutritionists, six nurses, one coordinating nurse, three inspectors, an environmental health director, who handles food service and restaurant inspections, a part-time doctor, a part-time nurse practitioner, a lactation specialist and an early-intervention specialist, who works with local school systems.
In addition to clinic appointments and immunizations, the health department tests water, inspects day care centers and restaurants for licensing purposes, tests soil for new properties, offers maternity programs for uninsured and high-risk pregnancies, offers family planning and birth control services, complete exams, STD testing and investigates cases of food poisoning and outbreaks such as tuberculosis. The department also offers a WIC — Women, Infant and Children — program, which provides infant formula and baby food for babies and juice, fresh fruit and vegetables, cereal and milk for pregnant and breastfeeding women and children up to age 5.
On average, the Lowndes County Health Department sees about 2,000 people a month, said Martin. Though workers have seen a notable increase, the health department won”t have actual figures on the number of clients seen at the new facility until sometime in October.
Make an appointment
· Lowndes County Health Department: 801 N. Lehmberg Road, 662-328-6091, open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday.
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