Boonville, MU Health Care celebrate opening of Jackson Road Medical Building

BOONVILLE - Boonville was experiencing tough times when its only hospital closed in January 2020.

"Can you believe it's 1,177 days since our hospital closed?'” said Mona Brownfield, a doctor at the closed hospital. "But, who's counting?"

Brownfield is now supervising physician at the new University of Missouri Health Care Jackson Road Medical Building in Boonville, which had its grand opening on Tuesday, though it opened to patients a few weeks ago. It has a convenient location across the street from the town's Wal-Mart.

"This, my friends, is a success story," Brownfield said.

When the hospital closed, MU Health Care worked with Boonville and Cooper County leaders to establish immediate and long-term health care options for the community.

The new Jackson Road Medical Building includes the MU Health Care Family Medicine Clinic, relocating from 102 Isle of Capri Boulevard, where it was established in July 2020. The 700-square-foot clinic was cramped, Brownfield said.

The 14,000-square-foot medical building employs 45. It has a Mizzou Urgent Care, primary care providers, specialty services, X-ray and CT imaging, a lab and physical therapy. It has 18 patient care rooms.

MU Health Care leases the building.

The building is incredible, said Boonville Mayor Ned Beach.

MU Health Care filled a need for the growing small city, he said.

"Our local docs got to stay," Beach said. "Everything fit really, really well."

The Urgent Care will be open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., said Matthew Robinson, MU Health Care chair of emergency medicine.

"We worked to create a solution that expands access to everyone in the region," Robinson said.

MU Health Care made a critical investment in the community when it was needed most, said Gigi Quinlan McAreavy, president of the Boonslick Community Development Corporation, the local economic development organization.

"Rural health services are our small community's economic anchor," McAreavy said.

Any prospective employer will want to know about access to health care, she said after the ceremony.

Roger McKinney is the Tribune's education reporter. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on Twitter at @rmckinney9.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Boonville, MU Health Care celebrate opening of new medical building