New Health Clinic Opens In Green Bank

Green Bank, WV – Community Care of West Virginia, a non-profit health care corporation, opened the Northern Pocahontas County health clinic in Green Bank last Monday. The clinic replaces the clinic that Community Care formerly operated in Durbin.

Community Care received federal stimulus funds, which paid for approximately two-thirds of the cost of the new facility. The corporation paid the remaining one-third and the clinic was fully paid-for when the doors opened.

The new clinic is equipped with triage rooms, a procedure room, a family planning room, a laboratory, a doctor’s office and a nurse’s station. Pocahontas Pharmacy in Marlinton will be opening a branch at the clinic to dispense a three-day amount of medications, such as antibiotics.

Community Care Director of Medical Operations Patricia Collett said the clinic will offer primary physician care and a variety of other medical services.

“Anybody is eligible to receive care here,” she said. “We take care of newborn babies up to 100-plus year olds. We provide primary preventive health services, maintenance services – those type of services that everybody needs for general health. We take care of diabetes, asthma, chronic health conditions, as well as preventive health.”

The clinic will offer breast and cervical, family planning and children’s vaccination programs.

Collett, who also serves as a physician assistant with Community Care, said the clinic welcomes both insured and uninsured patients.

“We accept every major form of health insurance,” she said. “Tricare, which is the military health insurance, we accept that. We also accept patients who have no health insurance. We offer several programs to help people who have no health insurance. We offer a sliding fee and it’s based on the federal poverty level and it’s based upon a guideline of your family size and what your income is. Based upon that, you qualify for this program and you will pay $15 per office visit.”

The clinic staff will include Dr. Deborah Auble, who served the Durbin clinic, and physician’s assistants Rachel Taylor and Valerie Monaco. Collett said a homegrown Pocahontas doctor will be joining the staff next year.

“We have a new physician that will join our practice next summer,” she said. “Her name is Jennifer Beverage. She also grew up here in Pocahontas County. She is currently a chief resident at United Hospital Center in Clarksburg and is their rural health scholar and has already signed to come work with us next summer. We’re very happy with the staff we have here.”

Community Care Chief Executive Officer Rick Simon said the corporation has formed a tentative agreement for a dentist to set up practice in Green Bank. The corporation is renting space in the building where Dr. John Eilers’ medical practice is located, and plans to open a dental clinic there in the near future.

Simon said the entire community supported the project and named a few who gave special assistance.

“If I were thanking anyone to begin with, I would thank the local community because they’ve been so supportive during the actual construction process,” he said. “Alfred Ervine has been outstanding in providing us assistance during this whole project. He’s been very, very supportive and it could not have happened without Alfred.

“The local community has been very supportive,” he said. “Folks like John Wayne, who did our surveying; other folks like Mike Holstine, up at the Observatory, who sent his staff down to verify that our wiring and our technology was appropriate for the area; local businessmen like Charlie Sheets, who, when we didn’t have phone access, said, ‘come up and use our phone.’ All in all the whole community has been very supportive.”

The CEO said original Northern Pocahontas Clinic board members Mike Douglas and Donnie Reynolds provided valuable assistance and mentioned one elected official who supported the clinic since its inception.

“Senator Walt Helmick – six or seven years ago – met with the old board of directors and promised his support and, over a period of time, has always been supportive of every one of our needs and making sure that we were able to stay in this end of the county.”

Retired car dealership owner Alfred Ervine summed up the importance of the new clinic.

“Well, you know, we’re 26 miles from Marlinton and 50 miles from Elkins and it’s the only facility we have in the area and I think it’s very important,” he said. “I think it’s very nice and it’s a big asset to the area.”

For information on WV Connect, a medical payment program for working uninsured, stop by the Green Bank clinic, call 304-924-6262, or see ccwvconnect.com on the Internet.

Story By

Heather Niday

Heather is our Program Director and Traffic Manager. She started with Allegheny Mountain Radio as a volunteer deejay. She then joined the AMR staff in February of 2007. Heather grew up in the Richmond, Virginia, area and now lives in Arbovale, West Virginia with her husband Chuck. Heather is a wonderful flute player, and choir director for Arbovale UMC. You can hear Heather along with Chuck on Tuesday nights from 6 to 8pm as they host two hours of jazz on Something Different.

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