On March 1, Nash Health Care and Nash County officials broke ground on a new Middlesex Medical Office Building near Highway 64. When completed, it will provide Middlesex residents easy access to primary and urgent medical care.

            “We had a vision that we needed to expand our services to the southern part of Nash County.  We are excited to be here today and to start on this wonderful facility that will benefit the community,” said Michael Bryant, chairman of the Nash Health Care Board of Commissioners.  “We believe this is a start of many good things to come.”

            The Middlesex Medical Office Building will feature a 5,600 square-foot Primary / Urgent Care Clinic. The Primary / Urgent Care Clinic will operate six days a week with some weekend and evening hours. In addition to providing primary care, the clinic will also accept walk-in patients. The clinic would be staffed by family medicine or internal medicine physicians, and it would offer diagnostic services including lab tests and basic radiology procedures

            Larry Chewning, president and CEO of Nash Health Care, said the groundbreaking wasn’t just about opening a new facility, but it was about keeping a promise to serve the Middlesex community---the fruition of a project that had been discussed since 2003.

            “Today is a great day. We understand how much this project means to people in this community. This project is about keeping a promise. This facility will not only treat patients, but it will serve as a teaching facility in conjunction with UHS to help physicians and students understand how to best serve a rural community,” Chewning said.

            University Health Systems (UHS) will partner with Nash Health Care in providing permanent physician staffing at the facility. The Middlesex Medical Office Building will also be used as a satellite site for training family medicine physicians through the Brody School of Medicine.

            The Middlesex Medical Office Building will be located on approximately 60 acres of property Nash Health Care purchased in 2008, on Highway 231 near US Highway 264. The land was purchased in order to help Nash Health Care provide convenient, superior quality health care to residents of southern Nash County, which is approximately 30 miles from medical facilities in Rocky Mount. The general contractor is Calvin Davenport, Inc. Construction is scheduled to begin in this month with a projected opening date of December 2011.

Celebrating the groundbreaking of the new Middlesex Medical Office Building are (from left): Billy Morgan of the Nash County Board of Commissioners; Larry Chewning, president and CEO of Nash Health Care; Jerry Daniel, Nash Health Care Board of Commissioners; Michael Bryant, chairman of the Nash Health Care Board of Commissioners; and Middlesex Mayor Luther Lewis Jr.