WYMORE - A hospital system in Southeast Nebraska is reinforcing a commitment to providing access to healthcare by kicking off construction on a new clinic, even as some other medical options have begun to disappear. 

With local medical providers and regional executive leadership in attendance, Beatrice Community Hospital and Health Center officially broke ground on the site of the new Wymore Medical Clinic on Tuesday afternoon.

"We’re very excited to have a state-of-the-art building so we can now show off our state-of-the-art healthcare," BCH CEO Rick Haraldson said. "The best part about it it's a new facility. Clearly the way the old building is, it’s just not set up for the way we practice medicine now. Much more of the stuff is telemedicine-based, a lot of connections, a lot of power needs, things related to the electronic health record. We do a lot of things now that we need to have a different space layout for how we manage those types of care." 

After securing re-zoning approval from the Wymore city council, a vacant run-down house was demolished to make room for the future site of the new clinic, which the hospital expects to open next summer.

"It’s going to be an eye-opener to the community just like any new build in the community will be," Wymore mayor Collin Meints said. "There’s been a lot of work to get to this point, and most of all, at the end of the day, it’s going to be a beautiful facility for our small community."

Standing at 7,200 square feet, it will feature seven exam rooms and a procedure room, with new equipment and expanded hallways. Arbor State Pharmacy will move from its current location in Wymore's downtown "business district" and will take up residence in the clinic itself, complete with a drive-thru.

"This is a huge investment in our community, and our community as a whole has been so supportive of me over the years, I’m so appreciative of that," said Jeremy Waltke, Arbor State's owner and pharmacist. "The community is just terrific, I mean, we support our local businesses. And just hearing the names of Dr. Samuelson and Dr. Nelson mentioned earlier brings back childhood memories for me – I was a little kid when they were here, and I remember a lot of middle of the night house visits from “Doc Sam” when we were sick as kids, so I think they’re both looking down right now and are proud of what is going on with the clinic."

In a word, the new Wymore Medical Clinic will provide its patients and employees with a lot more space.

"It’s a great accomplishment for this clinic, our team has worked so hard to serve this community and our patients. It’s going to give them better access," said Lisa Decker, a family nurse practitioner at the clinic. "Our clinic now is old, narrow hallways, narrow doorways, if anybody’s in a wheelchair or anything like that it’s very hard for them to get up and down the halls, in and out of the exam rooms. There’s going to be so much more space...it’s just going to be great for our patients."

Leadership from both the hospital and the city said this development, with an estimated cost of $5 million, underscores how important access to quality healthcare is not just to people who live in Wymore, but in the surrounding areas as well.

"We’ll be able to do most of the things that we need to do right here locally, so they don’t have to travel up to the hospital in Beatrice," Haraldson said. "Over the last few years the number of visits in the community have increased, so clearly the need is here. With the Marysville clinic closing, clearly the access and having people not have to drive for healthcare is going to be critical. Not only that, but when you have the ability to get to your exam, it’s much better to keep your follow-ups and those things [in the same place]."

"Just a few years ago we lost one of our medical clinics here in the community, and a lot of people were worried that the next one was going to go...and instead of the next one going, just within the last couple years, they announced that they’re going to build a new one to accommodate for the loss of the other one and to help out the community," Meints said.

The current clinic, located just a couple of blocks away to the northeast, will continue to function while the new clinic is being constructed. And the plan is to officially open the doors of the new center in less than 10 months.

"I feel like our team gives really good healthcare to this community, and now the shiny things around us are also going to represent the good care that our patients get," Decker said.