There’s no place like home. That is true for health care as well. When patients have a medical home, they receive coordinated, comprehensive care that is centered on them. That improves the quality of care and the health of the population. Having a medical home also reduces costs from emergency room visits and hospitalizations.
This improved access to medical care and services is especially helpful for patients with complex chronic conditions.
For all those reasons, the expansion of Dayspring Health’s Medical Clinic in Williamsburg is good news.
Dayspring Health’s Medical Clinic, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), identified gaps in locally available patient care more than 2 years ago. Filling those gaps was the impetus behind the clinic’s expansion in Williamsburg. It purchased an empty 80,000 square-foot Walmart building and began renovating the 57,000 square-foot first-floor space.
The location houses primary medical and specialized health-care services, including pediatrics, behavioral health, obstetrics specialties, dental, physical therapy, telemedicine diagnostic services and an onsite pharmacy. Free services include free transportation to and from the clinic and access to a commercial kitchen where nutrition and healthy food preparation will be taught.
KHIC provided financing to purchase the building, while Fahe prepared and managed new markets tax credit financing to renovate the structure.
“We have been working with Kentucky Highlands since 2019,” said Larry Rector, COO & CFO at Dayspring Health. “It’s a team approach. They also help with strategy, and I can reach out to them whenever I need. Sustaining rural health care is tough. We would not be able to provide the care that this community needs without Kentucky Highlands. To have a partner like Kentucky Highlands standing beside you ensures the community members have what they need for a healthy life.”
Dayspring Health has grown more than 10 percent in recent years and now serves more than 10,000 patients — that’s approximately 25 percent of the population of the community. In addition, it serves many others who have been treated for illnesses or administered COVID tests but didn’t transfer their care to Dayspring.
With one-stop access for general care and medical specialties, the clinic anticipates growing to 12,000 patients and 32 new jobs in the next two years. Since financing its first dental clinic in 2019, Dayspring’s management has relied on KHIC as a go-to source of capital and for management assistance.