BELZONI, – The University of Mississippi Medical Center is bringing more care to the underserved Mississippi Delta with the opening of an after-hours acute care clinic in Belzoni.
The clinic is located in the Humphreys County Sherrill Building, 16463 Highway 49 North. It will begin seeing patients later this fall and includes a classroom for community education, a fitness area and a walking trail. Nurse practitioners and nurses will give care from 3-11 p.m. weekdays and from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
The Medical Center is partnering with the Humphreys County Board of Supervisors in creating the clinic. The building houses other tenants, including the Mississippi State University Extension Service.
“Humphreys County is a rural and pretty poor place,” said Dickie Stevens, Board of Supervisors president. “Health care is not accessible really close by. Our local doctors do a great job during business hours, but after hours and on weekends, there’s a terrible void since the closing of our hospital.”
The walk-in urgent care clinic won’t offer primary care, because there are two primary care clinics in 2,000-resident Belzoni that usually close weekdays at 5. Instead, the clinic will offer services for non-life threatening acute illness and injury that don’t require an emergency room visit. It targets the 9,000 residents of Humphreys County and the surrounding area.
Patients will be treated for routine illnesses that can include acute or short-term pain, headaches, cough, minor injuries, fever and rashes. Dr. LouAnn Woodward, UMMC vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, especially thanked Bennie Thompson for his pivotal role in bringing the clinic to reality.
“He’s the one who called us and said, ‘We need some help in Belzoni,’’’ Woodward said. “It’s important that the Medical Center engages with a community like this and supports the health care infrastructure.”
A key component will be the use of telehealth to connect patients to specialty care at UMMC. Telehealth allows doctors and other health practitioners to treat patients remotely using online streaming video technology and other tools for two-way live communication. Specialists such as Dr. Jasmine Hollinger of the Department of Dermatology will personally staff the clinic one day a month.
Plans for the classroom space call for it to be used as a distance-learning education site focusing on medical education and training for health care professionals and pre-professional students in the Delta area, Moore said.
Education topics include nutrition, weight management and medication management.
