A ribbon cutting was held Wednesday to mark the opening of Saint Francis Clinic at Saint Francis Health Center on Physicians Park Drive.
The new space inside Saint Francis Health Center is part of a two-stage operation where physicians and staff from the Kneibert Clinic will be moved to locations that can better serve patients in the area, hospital officials said.
“We are expanding our reach in Poplar Bluff and the region. We want to serve our patients better. The building that houses Kneibert Clinic has used its last piece of life and we are moving some of the providers over here and some of them to Northwest,” explained Christy Shawan, vice president of operations for the Southwest Region, Saint Francis Medical Partners.
“The primary care is moving over here this weekend and then mental health and the peds practice over there will be moving to Northwest,” she said. “No definite date has been set for the move to Northwest, but it should be toward the end of the year.”
Effective Monday, several primary care providers will be on the second floor of the health center, with the remaining providers at Kneibert continuing to care for patients on Lester Street for the foreseeable future. Opening at the new location Monday are: Edith S. Hickey, MD; James W. Wilkerson, MD; Kenneth C. Li, MD; Elizabeth A. L’Heureux, APRN, FNP-BC, NP-C; Navid S. Siddiqui, MD; Amy Pennington, APRN,FNP-C; Kirby L. Turner, MD; Sandi Reese, APRN, FNP-BC; Prem K Varma, MD; and Amy Robertson, MSN, FNP-BC.
“No definite date has been set for the move to Northwest, but it should be toward the end of the year,” Shawan said.
After Thursday, May 13, Urgent Care services will no longer be offered at Kneibert Clinic.
The goal is to make a patient’s health care experience as easy as possible, hospital officials said.
“I believe that it will improve care for our patients by having more offerings,” said Shawan. “This campus, Saint Francis Medical Center, offers ambulatory. It offers imaging. The ambulatory surgery center is here. We will have all the primary care here. There are plans for a sleep center. All offerings will be centered on this location.”
“It’s a one-stop shop,” Shawan continued. “You can get your labs done. You can get your imaging done. You can get your primary care. Whatever need you have, we can make that happen here.”
Additionally, Shawan tells says there will be a new service at the health center.“We are going to offer same-day appointments here on-site and there is a campaign that starts this week,” she said. “If people have a provider that people are established with, but they can’t get in to see that provider, we have a staff of advanced practice providers that we can get them in the same day.”