Phoebe breaks ground for new primary care facility in Camilla

CAMILLA — An increase in volume and demand for access to specialty physicians in Mitchell County has led Phoebe Primary Care of Camilla to begin efforts of expansion, officials said. On Wednesday, a crowd gathered off U.S. Highway 19 for the groundbreaking of what will be the new facility, scheduled to open in the first half of 2017.

The new facility will allow Phoebe to see more patients and also will provide the opportunity to expand services in the future, officials said. The area gets 13,000 appointments a year, and Phoebe officials anticipates that to increase. The goal of the new primary care office, they said, is to provide a number of services, including extended-hours care and specialists to be determined.

President and CEO of Phoebe Putney Health System Joel Wernick said health officials are looking at demographic trends to plan how to best serve people.

“First of all, our country’s getting older and rural areas are getting, generally, a little bit older,” he said. “Older people need more health services than younger people do, and so part of what we’re doing is anticipating, as well as dealing with the growth and demand for services.”

Three doctors and a physician’s assistant will be on staff at the new facility. Dr. Emantavius Williams, a primary care physician from Camilla, will be one of those individuals. Williams said he was happy that the community was getting the medical facility.

“For me, it means a lot because I know a lot of people in the community and I know about assets,” he said. “And with this new facility, they’ve built up greater assets, especially specialty care and getting simple things as far as mammograms, CT scans and things like that, as well as medical orders, handled here in the community. So I think that’s the biggest feat it will overcome, expanding assets to medicine.”

He added that it also means a lot for him to be able to give back to his hometown.

“It’s kind of exciting because it’s always been a dream of mine to come back home and practice for a while,” Williams said, “so I’m excited about this whole process, looking forward to seeing how everything goes.

“It means a lot to me because my community has supported me throughout all my endeavors as far as reaching medicine. It’s a sweet moment at this point.”

Dr. Barbara Kupka, another primary care physician from the area, said the new facility will help with efficiency.

“I think it will make my practice more efficient so that the quality of care can increase,” she said. “It’s important with the way primary care medicine is now with documentation that we be able to keep people moving and they won’t have to sit and wait as long.”

Construction is already underway and should be down around Spring 2017, weather permitting.