By John Koski
SLN STAFF
It’s come a long way in less than three months. In early January, construction workers were battling the elements to enclose Mercy Elkhorn Medical Center. Two weeks earlier, a company official said an early summer 2013 opening was anticipated.
But thanks to the hard work of scores of construction workers – from tile setters to sheet metal workers to painters – the
clinic will actually open much sooner than summer.
It will open its doors on Monday, April 1.
“We chose the location at Highway 67 and Harvest Way on the city’s north side to better serve the needs of the Elkhorn community,” said Shawn Davenport, director, Mercy Health System. “It’s a nice, easily accessible location.
“We have a strong patient base in Elkhorn and have had a wonderful relationship with the Elkhorn community for quite some time,” he added. “Our intent has always been to be able to provide services to the community as they are needed.”
The 8,000-square-foot medical center will provide family medicine, orthopedic, obstetrics, gynecology, nurse/midwife, laboratory, and x-ray services. As this center develops and new equipment is brought in, alongside essential medical software like EMR Ob/Gyn packages, the facility will begin to take shape and be ready for the first lot of patients to come in and be seen to.
“We’re very excited about the clinic opening on April 1,” Davenport said. “We’re excited to be a stronger part of the Elkhorn community and to be able to provide care there for quite some time. “We will have primary care and internal medicine physicians who will be there on a temporary basis until we hire two new family practice physicians, which we are anticipating will start in September,” he said.
“Beginning in April we will also have orthopedic, obstetric, and gynecology services at the clinic a couple of days a week.
“We will be fully operational on April 1,” he added, “with the exception of our x-ray equipment, which has a two-week delay.
“The architects did a wonderful job. Now comes the hard part where we have to bring patients in and start providing care.”
