Carilion Clinic Family Medicine opening Monday at Westwood Medical Park
Sep. 22—BLUEFIELD, Va. — A ribbon was cut Friday to celebrate the opening of a new clinic offering primary care to people in Tazewell County, Va. and the surrounding area.
The Carilion Clinic Family Medicine is now located at 3 Westwood Medical Park in Bluefield, Va.
Visitors attending Friday's ribbon cutting and celebration had opportunities to tour the new facility. The clinic's physician, Dr. Sheila Patel MD, is a graduate of Graham High School.
"It's a godsend. It's nice to have some healthcare for our patients here. It's been a long three or four years since the hospital closed and the pandemic, so I think it's a fresh start and it can really make a difference in the community," Patel said about the new clinic. "We're going to start out with basic internal medicine primary care and eventually in the next six to eight months they should be adopting a tele-health system where we can bring in specialists that can be available and the patients can communicate by tele-health and maybe that will help reduce the lack of speciality in this area and hopefully patients won't have to commute so far away for their medical care."
"The start date is Monday morning," she said.
The new clinic could bring new physicians and medical specialists to the area, Patel said.
"I think so," she stated. "I think this is a good opportunity to bring in Carilion Clinic and also allow for new doctors to realize the need and how much the community can value their physicians and bring in the healthcare that's really needed in this area."
Dr. Michael Jeremiah MD with family and community health for Carilion, told guests attending the clinic's ribbon cutting about what the new facility will offer its patients.
Medical providers will care for patients in one of five examination rooms with four of them dedicated to primary care and one to tele-health visits, he said. Plans include services such as general surgery, urology, orthopedics and pulmonary care. Telemedicine technology will let patients have follow ups with health care providers without having to travel far from home.
Patients will have access to Carilion's two virtualist health care providers who will support Dr. Patel by visiting patients virtually when appropriate, Jeremiah said. The practice also includes a workroom for orthopedic casting and similar services as well as on-site X-Ray and lab services "for a one-stop shop for primary care."
Executive Director Keshia Cole of the Tazewell County Chamber of Commerce and Jeff Disibbio, executive director and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of the Two Virginias, welcomed guests to the celebration.
Carilion has been a staple in Tazewell County since November 1980, Cole said.
"It's always great to have more medical options inside the town," Disibbio said, adding that with an aging population, more medical services are needed.
Mayor Donnie Linkous of Bluefield, Va. joined in welcoming the new clinic and its staff. The new facility helps provide more local healthcare, especially after the closing of the Bluefield Regional Medical Center.
"Ladies and gentleman, if you can't see that I'm excited, something's wrong," Linkous said. "This is a fabulous day. Think about this. We've got kicked in the rear by losing our hospital. We didn't have any hope. Now look what we have."
"And guess what, the person who is going to be in charge is a Graham High School graduate," he added, looking to Dr. Patel. "Say that's not great? Isn't that fantastic? Thank you, mam, for coming back to Bluefield and taking care of us."
— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
