MOUNT VERNON — When Health Commissioner Julie Miller met with the county commissioners last week, she made a simple statement that could have far-reaching effects on healthcare in eastern Knox County.
“Money became available for a brand new site. We thought, ‘why not apply for a separate site for Danville?’” she told the commissioners, referring to a potential federally qualified health center.
A fully staffed, five-day-a-week clinic with, ultimately, dental, mental health, and addiction counseling in addition to medical care? The second such facility in Knox County? In addition to taking vacant storefronts and putting them to productive use? Indeed, why not?
Short-term, medical care will return to eastern Knox County on Feb. 27 when the Knox County Community Health Center opens a satellite clinic in Danville. Miller said the clinic will be open one day a week to start.
“I think it will grow pretty quick,” she said. “As the need grows, we’ll see about sending our mental health and addiction counselors there as well.”
The long-term effects could be much greater.
The History
Dr. John Tidyman moved to Danville in 1964. For 40 years, he provided medical care to the Eastern Knox community at 16 E. Main St. When he retired in 2004, Knox Community Hospital provided care through a nurse practitioner. The nurse practitioner left in 2017.
“Knox Community Hospital had to decide how much of a priority it was to replace the nurse practitioner,” said Lane Belangia, chief operating officer of the Knox County Community Health Center. “While they were pondering that, the pharmacy next door closed.”
The pharmacy was long-time staple Lonsinger Pharmacy at 10 E. Main St.
Fast-forward to late last summer, said Belangia, when he received a call from Danville Mayor Robert Dile about the community’s support for a health center and the void left with the departure of Dr. Tidyman and the pharmacy.
“They said, ‘we’d really like to see a medical provider in there again,’” said Belangia. “We kind of talked over some things, and then Denise Conway purchased the building knowing we were going to provide services to address the [community’s] unmet needs. We thought that because the community approached us, we knew it was a good thing.”
The Pharmacy
Hearing and talking to the Danville patients who began trickling into her pharmacy on Yauger Road, Denise Conway of Conway’s Eastside Pharmacy also recognized the need.
“We knew that we wanted to get medical providers in Danville in order to give Danville more healthcare opportunities,” she told KnoxPages.com. “We need them not just in Danville, but in the surrounding area.”
Liking the idea of bringing a pharmacy to Danville, Conway explored the sale of the building that houses 10-16 E. Main St. In October 2018, she, her husband, and another couple bought the building.
The pharmacy, which will be known as Conway’s Danville Pharmacy, will occupy 14 E. Main St. and use 2,500 square feet. The remaining 3,200 square feet, 12 E. Main St., will either house another medical provider or be used for health center expansion.
Lonsinger Pharmacy, which included a large gift section in addition to the pharmacy, occupied the entire 5,700 square feet of 12-14 E. Main St. Conway said the new pharmacy will be smaller with durable medical equipment and over-the-counter products.
“The health center part is turn-key,” said Conway. “That part is ready to roll. What’s not ready to roll is the rest of the 5,000 square feet.”
Conway’s group gutted that part of the building back to “bare bones,” including the ceiling and flooring.
“The structure is such a great sound building,” she said. “There are some things we wanted to improve on or change if we’re making another unit.”
Those changes include creating a vestibule where patrons can enter and then go into either 12 or 14 E. Main and adding a bathroom to the third unit. Fortunately, the previous owners, Harry and Eleanor Loucks, left the original 1973 blueprints in the building when Conway’s group took over.
“We were shooting for June 1 as our opening date,” she said. “Now we’re not sure. It may be July 1.”
The satellite clinic will occupy Dr. Tidyman’s former office, 16 E. Main St. Its approximately 1,700 square feet includes five exam rooms.
The Health Center
Health center COO Belangia said that Plan A was to open a satellite clinic Danville. When funding for a federally qualified health center (FQHC) became available, Plan B materialized.
“It’s a good problem to have,” he said of the potential transformation from a satellite clinic to a standalone FQHC.
The federal New Access Points (NAP) program provides funding for new healthcare delivery sites serving low-income, uninsured, under-insured, or under-served populations.
“We ran the numbers and did a whole assessment of the area,” said Belangia. “The numbers reflect there is still a population that can’t get into care timely or are on a lower income level.”
In addition to Danville’s 43014, there are six surrounding zip codes north, northeast, and east of Danville that are considered the service area. That area has a population estimate of 17,000, about 4,000 of whom Belangia said were identified as potential FQHC patients.
“Three of those zip codes meet the national designation of ‘hot spot zip codes,’ which means those zip codes are the worst place to live in terms of low income, they don’t have good insurance or they don’t have any insurance, and it’s hard to get in to see a provider,” he explained. “There’s just a lot of barriers to healthcare.”
The service area includes a large Amish population. The Amish historically have a nontraditional view toward medical treatment.
“Knowing there are these zip codes of high need, that really strengthens our application [for funding],” said Belangia. “It’s a good indication of patients who should come to a FQHC.”
Base funding for an FQHC is $650,000 a year. Mar. 12 is the deadline for Phase 1 grant applications, with final applications due April 11. Belangia said he will know by Sept. 1 whether the Danville site will be funded.
The Health Department
Belangia said that technically, the Danville clinic will operate under the Knox County Health Department, but it is part of the mission of the health center.
“We are basically showing that we are doing a good-faith effort to provide services to the area,” he said, adding that that effort will strengthen the grant application. “Funding is not guaranteed for public health. A federal grant should last for long-term.”
The Knox County Community Health Center has received about $390,000 from two supporting grants in addition to the base $650,000.
“It’s really important for the health department [to receive the grant] because it allows us to do more public health without [overloading] the health department,” said Belangia. “Grants are bringing federal dollars back to Knox County. It’s a good way to lift the community and provide needed services.”
“As a center, we can’t refuse anyone, so that’s where the grant is nice,” said Health Commissioner Miller. “We don’t want to use general fund money because that’s Knox County taxpayers paying for out-of-county people.”
“The goal is to get and keep people healthy, and this is a good way to do that,” said Belangia.
