PARKERSBURG - Putting family practice physicians around town where people can have easy access to them is the focus of the new Camden Clark Primary Care offices, the first of which is opening today in south Parkersburg.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Tuesday at the office at 2812 Pike St., near the Patriot Center shopping center in south Parkersburg.
People were able to tour the office, which included nine exam rooms and two treatment rooms. The office will eventually house three primary care doctors. Dr. Kara Shamblin will be the first of at this location with another to follow in January and the third next summer.
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Photo by Brett Dunlap
Rick Hamilton, from left, Executive Director of Camden Clark Physician Corp., local developer Tom Evans, Camden Clark Medical Center President and CEO Mike King and Dr. Kara Shamblin participate in the ribbon cutting for the new Camden Clark Primary Care Office in south Parkersburg.
"We are opening a family practice," Shamblin said. "We want to provide primary care.
"Our goal is to keep this community as healthy as possible."
They want to make sure people are up-to-date on their immunizations, do preventive care and handle any medical problems that come through the door.
"We want to make sure the south side has great medical care," Shamblin said.
Shamblin is a lifelong resident of West Virginia and received her medical degree from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine. She did a residency at the Charleston Area Medical Center in family medicine for three years. Her areas of expertise include cardiology, endocrinology, pulmonary disease, women's health, diabetes, renal disease, lymphatic disease, neurology, geriatrics, depression and anxiety.
"Basically, it is a little bit of everything," Shamblin said. "That is what a family physician does, we are someone who manages the whole patient.
"Even if they have been to a specialist, we act like a coordinator. We get the information from their specialist and bring it all in here to coordinate the information. We are a central location and we provide centralized care."
The office will be taking appointments as well as walk-ins.
The practice is owned and operated by Camden Clark Medical Center, with the doctors and nurses being employees of the hospital. They are also putting in a diagnostic center next door to the office which will include CT scans, x-rays, labs and more.
The initial plan is to have three of these types of Primary Care offices up and running soon, said Mike King, President and CEO of Camden Clark Medical Center.
The second will be on Rosemar Road and will have three or four primary doctors. Camden Clark recently acquired a piece of property across from the new Dunkin Donuts on Division Street where it will build a location and locate three primary care doctors there.
"The idea is convenience with front door parking with an easy in and easy out," King said. "The south side, in and of itself, will have two locations.
"Once we complete those, we will be looking at other areas."
King said the idea of these facilities is to put primary care doctors in areas where people would have easy access to them.
With urgent care facilities around the area and a MedExpress nearby, King said the difference is the Primary Care office is for people looking to establish themselves with a doctor for long-term care.
"The physicians here will be interested in continuity of care," King said. "They will want to see you for your lifetime, not just when you feel sick."
This includes doing wellness checks and things to keep people healthy for the long-term.
"This is a bit of an experiment to be where people live and work," King said. "It is a little different, but it is not unique or innovative.
"We are getting into it, because we think there is an access issue to primary care. Our community is telling us they want these kinds of physician offices that are accessible and easy to get to."
