MEMORIAL MED TO WEIGH OPTIONS AT GREENWOOD SITE
Friday, March 18th, 2011 -- 12:19 PM
Memorial Medical Center?s Greenwood Clinic will close next Friday, and it?s unclear if it will reopen.The nurse practioner who has staffed the location is leaving Memorial Medical Center, and due to "multiple levels of staffing challenges," the clinic will close for at least 30-60 days.
During this time, Memorial?s Board of Directors and administration will evaluate the future of their Greenwood site.
"It's not the busiest," explains MMC CEO Scott Polenz. "Part of the challenge has been we haven't been able to keep a consistent nurse practioner or physician, for a number of reasons."
Only 3-7 patients seek care at the facility on an average day. Polenz estimates only about 11% of those patients then seek further care at MMC, the rest seek care elsewhere.
"To be able to recruit a high quality (staff person), they want to be busy. It's a challenge to say, look, it's going to take you two to three years to build a busy practice, like Tina Opelt has done at her Loyal Center," Polenz says.
A decision on the facility's future will likely be made during the 30 to 60-day period after the March 25th closing.
A community meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, March 31st at 4:30pm at the Greenwood High School Cafetorium. Individuals interested in attending are asked to please contact Candy Marg, Community Outreach Coordinator, at 715.743.8423.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.