A rural health clinic opens its doors in Patrick County Monday.
Late last year, Patrick County was in danger of becoming a healthcare desert. Its hospital closed in 2017, and an urgent care facility that opened to fill the gap closed last November. That left Dr. Richard Cole as the county's only practicing physician, and he's in his 70s.
But things have changed. In January, Braden Health reopened the hospital. And now Cole is launching a new rural health clinic in the space next door.
"It'll be known as Stuart Family Practice," Cole says.
Cole had opened the urgent care after the hospital closed, to provide needed X-rays and lab work. But he faced a shortage of healthcare workers, and with the hospital reopening, those services are no longer needed.
Two nurse practitioners recently started, and a new doctor will arrive in August.
"And so myself and one of new nurse practitioners will go over to new practice," Cole says. "The new doctor will come here to Patrick County Family Practice."
Cole is counting on more doctors to arrive in coming years, which could further bolster the practices.
