6/18/2009 9:46:00 AM New clinic gives town's health care 'shot in the arm'
Jerry Guenther/Daily NewsStaff at the Battle Creek Clinic are (front, from left) Wendy Voborny, clinic manager; Julie Wilhelm, physician assistant; (back row) Ashley Loberg, student physician assistant; and Dr. Thomas Fennessy, who is the primary care doctor at the Tilden Community Hospital.
BATTLE CREEK - A medical clinic in this community is just what the doctor ordered.
The clinic, which is operated by the Tilden Community Hospital, is located on the west edge of Battle Creek's Main Street on the east side of Highway 121.
"We've had a pretty good response so far," said Julie Wilhelm, a physician assistant at the clinic. "We're currently open on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8 to noon and as we continue to get busier, we hope to expand those hours a little bit."
Wilhelm said a considerable amount of the patient base at the Tilden Community Hospital comes from Battle Creek, so the clinic is designed to make it more convenient for patients.
This is not the first time that Battle Creek has had a clinic, but it has been at least 20 years.
On Tuesday afternoons, clinic staff go to the nursing home at Battle Creek to visit residents. Even before the clinic opened, many of the family medicine doctors from the area visited the nursing home.
Patients to the clinic are encouraged to make appointments as much as possible, but walk-ins are welcome.
"If you feel sick, come on in," said Dr. Thomas Fennessy. "If our clinic is open, we will see you."
Such medical procedures as strep testing, pap smears or minor emergency procedures can be performed at the clinic, which opened last November.
Student physicals, which sometimes are necessary for school or sports, also are offered. Anything involving an X-ray, however, is referred to the Tilden hospital.
Fennessy, who spends at least one day a week at the clinic, said Wilhelm can work independent of a physician and is known as a "physician's extender."
Some months, the clinic also has a physician assistant student on staff. Currently, the clinic has Ashley Loberg, who is a student at Des Moines University.
Fennessy, who is the primary care doctor at the Tilden hospital, said the clinic works well with many doctors and will refer patients for the appropriate care they need.
Pneumonia or a fractured hip, for example, likely will get treated at the Tilden hospital. Some things, such as heart surgery, however, may get referred to another hospital such as Faith Regional Health Services in Norfolk.
"There's good camaraderie among the physicians in the rural community," Fennessy said. "We have to rely on each other go get things."
Wendy Voborny is the clinic manager and also manages the hospital's other clinic in Tilden.
The Tilden clinic also is being expanded with more exam rooms to make it more convenient for patients. There's also an effort to expand that clinic's reach to more patients.
The Tilden clinic is open on Mondays to Fridays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will keep those hours, but the additional exam rooms should shorten patients' stays.
