Category: St. Clair Health

At 90 days after opening Helms Healthcare in Vincent, Dr. Rock Helms could see his business plan was working. Be a good listener and deliver personal, quality healthcare like days gone by, and patients will follow.

One thousand patients three months later are testament to that.

It didn’t stop there. At the eight-month mark and approaching 2,000 patients, Helms announced that he will be opening a second location in his hometown of Pell City.

Targeting May 1, 2026, Helms Healthcare plans to open the new location near the industrial park at Comer Avenue and John Haynes Drive. Helms is renovating an existing building to accommodate the medical offices, an imaging center and infusion suites.

The 7,500-square-foot building is space he said is going to be developed into “really nice” state-of-the-art imaging center with a cutting-edge CT scan capable of a comprehensive range of diagnostics for coronary cardiovascular risk.

Cardiac imaging of this caliber will be able to serve certain patients for precision cardiovascular screening, which may not be covered by insurance. But, Helms predicts by 2030 in the healthcare industry, it will be standard and covered. “The fact that we’re going ahead now tells you just how good the technology is.”

The new clinic will offer extended hours for urgent care and a full-service lab. They are adding new staff – CT technician, laboratory technician, ultrasound technician and more office and support staff.

At present, the Vincent clinic is led by Helms with the assistance of three certified nurse practitioners.

Helms will divide his time between the Vincent and Pell City clinics, but plans call for the physician roster to increase to meet the needs. “We expect to quickly grow providers over the next 24 months,” he said.

The decision to return to Pell City with a significant presence was guided by his ties to his hometown. Pell City, he said, has “excellent healthcare with multiple services available. It is my community, and I want to maintain that level of care and build on it.”

While he acknowledges the tremendous strides made with Helms Healthcare since its inception only eight months ago, he stressed that it was not a solo effort. It came from “the Lord and good work of good people.”

As for returning the practice of medicine to days gone by, he said Helms Healthcare will continue this path of care. “When you call, a person answers the phone. They’re happy to see you. They care. All those things are really important.”

He expects Helms Healthcare to “continue to grow and be marked by excellence and doing it in a loving, old fashioned way. I don’t want that to go away.”

In 2001, Helms founded Northside Medical Associates in Pell City, beginning with only a handful of providers and staff. He grew it into an expansive campus of medical facilities, a pharmacy, urgent care and multiple specialties and locations in other communities with over 200 employees.

After selling the practice and fulfilling contract commitments, he founded Helms Healthcare in Vincent.

Dr. Sarah Whitehead seeing patients in Pell City

UAB St. Vincent’s Women’s Health is expanding gynecologic services to UAB St. Vincent’s St. Clair. Dr. Sarah Whitehead will now be holding gynecology appointments at the Pell City hospital located at 7063 Veterans Parkway.

 Whitehead is accepting new patients, and appointments can be scheduled by calling the main office at 205-939-7800. Patients should specify UAB St. Vincent’s St. Clair facility when making an appointment with Dr. Whitehead.

 Whitehead is board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology and provides gynecologic care to girls and women of all ages.

She strives to provide compassionate service to her patients by listening to and understanding their needs.

She has a special interest in treating polycystic ovary syndrome and helping patients achieve their weight loss goals.

Returning to bygone era of medicine

Story by Carol Pappas
Submitted Photos

In today’s corporate-driven medical care climate, Pell City’ s Dr. Rock Helms is forging a new path in healthcare for the region by returning to the days of old – ways from which he never wavered.

He opened Helms Healthcare in Vincent in March and in less than 90 days, 1,000 patients had come on board. And they’re still coming.

It has been an ideal match for the tiny town of Vincent, population 2,500, and Helms Healthcare. The town had been without a doctor for 20 years. The closest medical facility was in Harpersville but for the most part, residents traveled to Sylacauga, Birmingham, Pell City and Chelsea for major medical needs, according to Mayor Jim Lattimer.

Helms Healthcare locating a block from the city’s main street has been “a big benefit for everybody,” the mayor said. “He’s part of the community. That’s what we want for every business.”

Helms lauded the efforts of the mayor and council. “I am super appreciative. The city has been amazing. They made it very, very easy to come here, and we owe them a debt of gratitude.”

To make the partnership come to fruition required some investment by the city to prepare. The long vacant building on Florey Street that the city owned needed repair. “We looked at it and saw the potential, but it needed quite a bit of work, and it needed it quickly” if Helms was to open in March.

That was January. The council voted unanimously to move ahead with the opportunity, and they replaced air conditioning, fixed water damage and made other improvements to get the 3,000 square foot building ready to open. “$60,000 was worth it to get a doctor in here.”

Helms invested as well and continues to add and upgrade to what is now a state-of-the-art medical clinic with a doctor, three nurse practitioners, two registered nurses, technicians and a full staff.

He takes pride in the personal approach the entire staff takes to serving its patients. “When you call, you get a real person,” he said, not a number to press.

Helms said he could not have envisioned a better welcome from the community and the region. “It’s amazing the flow of people coming in.” He anticipated existing patients from his years in Pell City would amount to about a third and “hopefully we would grow the clinic over a year’s time to be sustainable. It has exceeded expectations in multiples. It’s obvious we are going to be successful.”

The numbers bear that out. In the month of May, 30% came from around the area – Vincent, Harpersville and Chelsea. Now it’s “north of 40 percent and growing like crazy.”

Helms has brought cutting edge health care to the area, providing general and cardiac ultrasound, lab services, digital X-ray and IV infusion of fluids, including iron, Lasix, hydration. Soon to be added is wellness infusion therapy. Iron infusions done there can save patients a trip to the hematologist. They offer weight loss management as well.

“We have helped a lot of people,” Helms said. “The sole reason they haven’t seen a doctor is because they have to drive. We’ve seen several like that. Transportation is a huge barrier.”

Since opening, he has seen better medical outcomes because they can get the help they need close to home. “That’s our hometown doctor,” said Lattimer, a hint of pride in his voice.

“The people have been very appreciative,” Helms said. “They’ve helped me personally and professionally to re-establish a hometown practice like I started in 2001.”

History appears to be repeating itself. Fresh from medical school in 1999, Helms came back to his hometown of Pell City to begin practicing medicine. His vision then – as now – was that of a small-town doctor building relationships with his patients, listening to their needs and guiding their care toward positive outcomes.

It is family medicine at its core, treating patients like family because, in essence, they are.

In 2001, he founded Northside Medical Associates in Pell City, beginning with only a handful of providers and staff. He grew it into a thriving campus of medical facilities, a pharmacy, urgent care and multiple specialties and locations in other communities with over 200 employees.

He sold it, fulfilled his contract commitments and is now starting over with Helms Healthcare in Vincent and plans to locate another in Pell City.

There have been patients wondering if he will stay in Vincent. While he does have plans to open in Pell City later, he stressed, “we will keep this open. I know it’s the Lord’s will. It’s nothing short of a miracle we are growing like this.”

Latest addition to Pell City medical community puts focus on treating whole patient

Story and photos
by Graham Hadley

When Dr. Shilpa Patel was offered the opportunity to open St. Clair Eye in the same building with Pell City Internal and Family Medicine in Pell City, making the decision was an easy one.

“We had recently moved to Odenville and saw there was a growing need for eye care in the county,” she said. “Dr. Rick Jotani at PCIFM said they had space there, and within a month we were rolling. There are lots of specialties in the building, and they needed eye care, so it really worked out great.”

St. Clair Eye is a full-service vision medical center, with a focus on eye injuries and eye disease, often working in conjunction with other physicians. Patel is quick to point out that there are often many other health issues affecting the eye, so they make sure they are looking at the wellness of the whole patient.

“You have to tailor each exam to each patient and their needs,” she said.

To that end, St. Clair Eye makes sure they are able to treat patients with special needs, making sure the office is sensory inclusive, and their equipment is accessible to people with mobility issues as well.

“We are Kulture City certified,” she said, noting that doctor’s offices can be overwhelming for people on the autism spectrum, people with dementia and other cognitive conditions. Every patient who needs one is provided with a bag containing sunglasses, noise-reducing earphones, fidget toys and more – anything they need to be more comfortable during their visit.

According to the Kulture City website, certification makes sure businesses “cater to everyone with sensory needs, not just autism. This includes military vets with PTSD, adults with dementia, Parkinson’s disease, stroke patients, just to name a few.”

In addition to Patel and her staff being Kulture City certified, she is also fluent in American Sign Language.

“When treating patients, you have to have the right tools and skills to get the desired end result. And that varies on who you have in the chair. All of that comes with experience,” she said.

Though St. Clair Eye has only been open a few months in Pell City, Patel brings with her decades of experience as not only a medical professional in optometry, but also as “a distinguished scholar and fellow of the National Academies of Practice and a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry.” A Birmingham native, she is a graduate of UAB, Ohio State and Harvard.

She was in private practice in Birmingham for years and worked at the Callahan Eye Clinic.

“Everyone in our office is local,” which makes them feel more connected to the community and patients. “We work as a team.”

Those connections to the community have always been important to Patel. She is particularly proud of her time volunteering for Red Mountain Museum, which eventually became part of what is the McWane Center today.

St. Clair is one of the fastest growing communities in Alabama, and as more people move to the area, so does the demand for medical services, particularly specialties like optometry.

“We do comprehensive eye exams, set people up with contacts and glasses, treat glaucoma, dry eyes and other vision issues. We see a lot of people with diabetic-related vision problems, and some people who just need regular checkups” and maintenance-level care.

“Most eye diseases progress gradually,” and many people don’t realize they have a problem until it has been going on for a long time, sometimes years, Patel said. As much as hands-on medical treatment is necessary, she says they also focus on educating their patients about not only specific problems with their eyes, but how their overall health can affect their vision. … We treat the whole patient, look at their overall wellness.”

Patel said St. Clair Eye has been growing quickly from day one. “We are getting busier every day. Marketing and word of mouth have been a huge help,” but so has support from the community.

“The Pell City Chamber of Commerce has been great. They were here for our open house” and have continued to support the new business, she said.