SerpApi.Org
In Howard County, Boone Health took a step toward restoring rural healthcare with the opening of a new primary care clinic in Glasgow.
On Wednesday, a ribbon cutting was help for the new facility.
The new clinic is triple the size of Glasgow’s former clinic, and added an additional provider and X-ray suite.
Before the new clinic, residents had to drive to Boonville or Columbia for an X-ray.
"Imagine needing to be seen and not having access, and having to drive an hour every time you got sick. Or you need an X-ray because you don't know if you have pneumonia and now someone who's already not feeling well has to travel," Brady Dubois, Boone Health CEO, said.
Melinda Hart, a family nurse practitioner at the clinic, said she has practiced in the town for more than 10 years.
She said her dream of expanding Glasgow's clinic began seven years ago.
"I'm born and raised here so it was really important to keep things local and to provide quality healthcare close to home," Hart said.
For Glasgow residents, the new clinic may mean fewer trips.
"My dad is 96. He doesn't travel well to to get to Columbia to do those things is really difficult. I appreciated that. He can come down and get things taken care of," Bill Mathews, a Glasgow resident, said.
The clinic expansion aimed to address an emerging, and even deadly issue: Healthcare deserts across Missouri.
"We serve 28 counties and almost every county has access challenges or specialty care challenges," Dubois said.
Between 2014 and 2022, 12 rural hospitals closed across the state.
According to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, 51% of Missouri rural hospitals are at risk of closing. Eleven hospitals are at immediate risk.
Dubois said Boone Health was actively working to make sure rural Missouri did not get left behind.
"What we're trying to do is, where we can, create a presence. And help bring primary care, and then through telemedicine or on-site travel, bring some specialty care to the rural communities," he said.
Hart said the impacts of the clinic reached far beyond Glasgow. She said she saw patients at the clinic from 9 Missouri counties.
The new clinic was funded by the Boone Hospital Foundation.
