KELSEYVILLE — Hospital administrators and physicians gathered to dig up dirt at a groundbreaking ceremony Friday morning on a vacant lot on State Street in Kelseyville.
The proposed building will house the Kelsey Creek Medical Clinic, which currently occupies a 1,800 square-foot, remodeled house on Church Street. Approximately 7,200 patients use the clinic annually, and the clinic is in need of room to expand, according to Linda Gibson, vice president of operations at Redbud Community Hospital (RCH). The new clinic is expected to open its doors in the spring of 2009.
“The community has needed this for a long time, and it”s long overdue. I know how important this is to the entire community,” District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown said.
Opened in 1993, the Kelsey Creek Medical Clinic is one of seven community clinics RCH operates in Lake County. The hospital is part of Adventist Health, a not-for-profit, faith-based health system that operates 18 hospitals in California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington.
The new Kelseyville clinic will be 2,900 square feet and will offer diabetes education, two additional exam rooms, more parking and easier accessibility, according to RCH spokesman Jeff Davis.
“When you build a new clinic you can design it from the ground up, and the form follows the use,” Gibson said.
The clinic will continue to offer family practice, podiatry and behavioral health services. Gibson said once the additional room allows more patients to come through the clinic, there may be a need to hire additional staff.
“We”re excited about the new clinic, and we”re excited about providing expanded and additional services to the Kelseyville clinic,” Gibson said.
Friday began the construction phase for the $1.3 million project. Gibson said the amount was a portion of the $10 million Adventist Health recently invested in RCH, including renovations to the hospital”s front entrance that began May 13. Improvements include remodeling surgery suites and an expansion of the emergency department slated to begin this summer, according to Gibson.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
