CMH set to open $3M Willard Medical Center

The service footprint for Citizens Memorial Hospital is about to expand next week with a clinic in Willard.

The Bolivar-based rural health care system announced in a news release its new CMH Willard Medical Center and Walk-in Clinic will open Dec. 6 at 502 S. Miller Road. It’s located next to Apple Market and the Green Meadows Shopping Center.

BP Builders LLC was general contractor for the $3 million project, with Facility Design Group LLC as architect.

“We are very excited to be opening the clinic in Willard,” said Gary Fulbright, CEO and executive director of the health care system and its CMH Foundation. “The medical team will offer care for the entire family, and the walk-in clinic will be open daily, providing even more care options for people in northern Greene County.”

The 8,500-square-foot clinic was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which in October 2020 announced a $3 million low-interest loan for CMH Properties, a subsidiary of the health care system. The loan funded the land purchase and clinic construction, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.

The clinic will be staffed by Dr. Mylhan Myers, a board-certified physician specializing in family medicine, obstetrics and pediatrics; Kaylee Ankrom, family nurse practitioner; and Megan Blades, physician assistant.

The CMH Willard Medical Center includes family medicine, behavioral health, obstetrics, pediatrics, women’s health, digital X-ray and laboratory services in its primary care clinic, which will be open Monday through Friday. Specialty clinic services will include cardiology, gastroenterology, orthopedics, podiatry and pulmonology.

The walk-in clinic will be open daily to provide care for all ages who have a sudden illness or injury and need immediate treatment. Examples of common ailments include cold, flu, ear infection, sore throat, allergies, asthma, pneumonia, minor burns and simple lacerations and fractures.

CMH spokesperson Tamera Heitz-Peek said physical and occupational therapy will be offered in a separate clinic near the medical center later in 2022. However, she was unable to provide additional details by deadline.

The new Willard clinic is the 14th medical center for CMH. It also operates medicine, pediatric and walk-in clinics in Ash Grove, Bolivar, Buffalo, El Dorado Springs, Greenfield, Humansville, Osceola, Pleasant Hope and Stockton.

The additional clinic comes amid an upcoming leadership change for CMH. Chief Operating Officer Michael Calhoun is set to succeed Fulbright in the health care system’s top role on Jan. 1, 2022. Fulbright announced in May his intention to retire Dec. 31 after nearly 40 years of employment with CMH. He succeeded Donald Babb in January 2020 as only the second CEO in the organization’s 39-year history, according to past reporting.