More services on the way for region
Story by Scottie Vickery
Photos by Graham Hadley
and Submitted
Just five months after Northside Medical Associates opened its ACCEL Urgent Care Clinic, Pell City veterinarian Ken McMillan had a potentially lifesaving visit there in April.
He’d had eye surgery for a detached retina in Birmingham the week before and wasn’t feeling well. Since his primary care doctor at Northside was out of the office, McMillan saw Dr. Jeremy Allen, medical director at ACCEL. When McMillan’s lab work was abnormal, Allen ordered a CT scan at the facility’s onsite imaging center. That’s when he discovered the blood clot in McMillan’s lungs.
“We were lucky he was as diligent as he was and had the technology available to do that,” said McMillan, who received treatment and is on the mend. “It could have ended up saving my life.”
The story is one example of how St. Clair County residents are taking advantage of the first-class medical services being offered close to home. All over Pell City, practices are growing, offices are expanding, and technology is being added and utilized at a rapid pace as local health care providers continue to invest in their patients’ well-being.
“We want our patients to be confident that the care they’re getting here is as good or better than anywhere else,” said Dr. Rock Helms, CEO and president of Northside. “I’m proud to say that, in this rural area, we’re providing state-of-the-art care.”
PCIFM expanding
Providing better and more convenient care for their patients is also the driving force behind Pell City Internal and Family Medicine’s expansion, according to Dr. Rick Jotani. The practice, which has a main office in St. Vincent St. Clair’s Physicians Plaza, is building a much larger facility on property adjacent to the site of its satellite office next to Publix on U.S. 231 in Pell City. “This will allow us to consolidate our two locations under one roof, making things more convenient for our patients,” he said. “Every service they need, whether it be labs or imaging, will be there.”
The new office, which should be completed by the end of the year, will be double the size of the two current locations combined, Jotani said. The new facility will allow the practice, which currently offers family and internal medicine, women’s health and wellness, sports medicine, pediatrics and aesthetic procedures, to expand.
ATI Physical Therapy will be part of the new building, and Jotani and his partners, Dr. Barry Collins and Dr. Ilinca Prisacaru, have plans to add more primary care physicians and sub-specialists over time.
“This will give us the space and flexibility to be able to do that,” he said. “Dr. Collins and I started the practice in 2012, and we’ve been very well-received by the community. This is a reflection of that. We’ve continued to grow and get better and will hopefully continue to do that for many years to come.”
Northside setting pace for growth
Northside has been growing since opening its doors in 2001 with four physicians. The practice now has four locations and a staff of more than 150, including 12 doctors and 13 nurse practitioners, Helms said. Patients can receive primary, specialty and emergency care, get lab work and advanced diagnostics, and pick up prescriptions all under one roof.
Over the past year, they’ve added 3D mammography, the urgent care component and have formed an independent lab, expanding the menu of screenings they offer, not only to their own patients but to those with other doctors, as well. “If you see a primary care physician or a specialist somewhere else, you can come here and get labs, and we’ll send them to your doctor,” Helms said.
Additions like the urgent care and 3D mammography have made a significant impact on patient health, he said. “With the 3D method, you get multiple images that are so much more detailed,” Helms said, adding that the technology is especially helpful for patients with dense breast tissue, a history of cancer or implants. “If you put the images side by side, you can see a tremendous difference. It’s much easier to pick up cancers.”
Urgent Care a new component of primary care
In a new trend in health care, Northside opened an urgent care center on its campus. The ACCEL center is open seven days a week and allows patients to quickly see a physician for things like strep throat, bronchial infections, abdominal pain and sprains.
Patients who see a primary care physician at Northside have the added benefit of knowing the urgent care staff has access to their charts and medical histories.
“It provides a much more seamless transition,” Helms said. “We saw an opportunity to better serve our patients, and it has been well-received. We’ve had patients come and thank us for doing this.”
More growth, more services
Here’s a look at how other providers are striving to meet the growing demand for health care in St. Clair County:
St. Vincent’s St. Clair recently earned a 5-star rating for hospital quality from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The 40-bed facility, which opened in 2011, is the only hospital in the county and one of only five in Alabama to earn the distinction.
The rating is based on 57 different benchmarks in six areas, including patient experience, effectiveness and timeliness of care, and efficient use of medical imaging.
Lisa Nichols, a registered nurse and the hospital’s administrator, said the distinction is the result of the staff’s commitment to providing quality, compassionate care.
“I’m so very proud of the work of our leadership and of our associates to ensure that quality and patient safety remains at the forefront of everything we do,” she said.
You don’t need 20/20 vision to see that the new home for James W. Bedsole Eye Care building, currently under construction on an outparcel site in front of Publix, promises to be state-of-the-art. “We want to be a destination for eye care,” said Bedsole, adding that the building should be finished by year’s end. “It’s going to be unique,” he said.
The new facility will be about twice the size of Bedsole’s current office downtown and is designed to accommodate new technology and an expanded optical gallery. The building will be handicapped accessible and easier for older patients to navigate. In addition, Bedsole will be hiring more staff and will eventually add another doctor to the practice.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to provide a better experience for our patients,” Bedsole said. “We offer a full scope of services now, but this will give us the ability to deliver those services in a more efficient manner,” he said.
UAB Callahan Eye located a satellite in Physicians Plaza in 2017 next to St. Vincent’s St. Clair, and it continues to thrive as a regional source for ophthalmology and optometry services in its Suite 240 location.
The clinic offers comprehensive adult and pediatric ophthalmology and optometry, plus an in-house optical store featuring a wide selection of designer eyeglasses and sunglasses from brands such as Ray-Ban, Coach, Maui Jim, Tom Ford, Costa del Mar, Burberry and Vera Bradley. Specialty eye services include glaucoma and cataract evaluations and screenings.
So, what’s next? A wellness center, he said, complete with indoor pool, workout facilities, classrooms for activities like aerobics or spinner biking, racquetball, physical, occupational and massage therapy and a walking track. He even envisions day care for ill children and after-hours daycare.