HEALTH

A helipad overlooks the new Eagle Rock EMS station under construction on Highway 86 in Eagle Rock. Kyle Troutman/editor@cassville-democrat.com

New EMS station, local clinic expansion make news

Grants to help sexual assault survivors; Access medical partners with schools

A busy year in health news was marked by the construction of a new EMS station in Eagle Rock, the expansion of a local clinic, partnerships between Access and local schools, and more. $1.1 million EMS station coming to Eagle Rock

The South Barry County Ambulance District and its contractor, Mercy EMS, kicked off an expansion project in 2019, as construction is near completion on a new emergency services facility in Eagle Rock.

The property is adjacent to the Eagle Rock-GoldenMano Fire Protection Headquarters, located at 30625 State Highway 86, in Eagle Rock.

The fire district donated the property to bring emergency services together in one location for the community.

The new Eagle Rock facility will occupy 4,000 square feet and include two ambulance bays, living quarters, a supervisor’s office, work room, a decontamination room, supply room and a safe room for personnel assigned to the facility. A helicopter landing pad will also be part of this project to provide an additional landing location when multiple aircraft are needed at an incident in the area. The facility is expected to be completed in December.

Ken Cieslinski, South Barry County Ambulance District board president, said the first thing he wants to say is thank you to the Eagle Rock Fire Department for partnering with this venture and making it possible.

“Our sole mission is to do the best we can for the citizens that we represent,” he said. “We felt, based on the analyzation that we had done, and the number of calls and the severity, that Eagle Rock was an absolute must.”

Cieslinski said at a fire chiefs meeting a year ago, they were talking about doing CPR on a patient for 45 minutes before an ambulance could arrive.

“I grew up in a big city, and coming to this area is just so different,” he said. “To hear that someone is doing CPR on a patient for so long before help can arrive is unacceptable.”

Cieslinski said the area does have limited resources, but that is changing.

“We need to be the best stewards we can using what we have,” he said. “We have been appropriating funds for awhile, but there are other communities that will need it.”

“The Eagle Rock EMS facility will be the third strategically placed EMS station in the District and will greatly reduce response times to the community,” Cieslinski said. “The new station will house vital equipment and personnel needed to provide emergency medical services to those who work, visit or live within the Eagle Rock community and surrounding areas. This area is currently served from the district’s headquarters in Cassville or from the Shell Knob station.”

The bay of the new Eagle Rock EMS station will hold two ambulances, with only one

operational at a time. Kyle Troutman/editor@cassville-democrat.com

Expansion underway at Roark Family Health

An additional 3,000 square feet is being added to Roark Family Health and Medical Spa to accommodate more space for new doctors and nursing staff hired by Dr. Lisa Roark.

Roark, owner of the clinic and spa, said the added square footage will double its size.

“We now have three doctors and new nurses, and we were just out of room,” she said. “I love our location, and I didn’t want to move.”

Roark said she is also adding a storm shelter to the building, and there will be more parking when the project is completed.

She said she wanted a storm shelter because Cassville has had a tornado warning every year for the last four years the clinic has been there.

“There really isn’t somewhere [for us] to go, and I love the idea of having a storm shelter available for myself, my staff and patients and also the community.”

Roark said there are a lot of small rental houses in the area, and now, those residents will have somewhere close to go.

“We were already building into the hillside,” she said. “I thought we might as well make a storm shelter.”

Roark said the biggest need for the expansion is that she has hired four new people.

“We have one new doctor, two new nursing staff members and a new massage therapist,” she said. “The biggest push for hiring more staff was that we added a medical marijuana certification.”

Roark said as private doctors started announcing that they were going to do the certification, most of them were $250-$350, which she said was ridiculous because insurance does not cover that, so patients are paying that out of pocket.

“First, I spoke with the Department of Health to confirm that I could do telehealth appointments,” she said. “They said I could do that, so I announced on social media that we would do telehealth appointments for anyone in Missouri for $100, which is what I charge for a DOT physical.

“I decided that a physical is a physical, whether it is to certify that they qualify for medical marijuana or that they can drive for the DOT.”

Roark said she didn’t inflate the price at all, and that made some physicians not so happy.

“That’s because they could either bring their costs down and match mine, or their patients would go elsewhere,” she said. “Very quickly, those prices started dropping, and now, there are at least two other physicians in Missouri that set their price at $100.”

Roark said a couple of them are doing it via telehealth, as well.

“We had so much interest in that, so I hired another doctor,” she said. “We have about 50 patients a day registering online that are wanting to schedule.”

Roark said she is currently seeing patients for medical marijuana certifications.

“The best way is for them to go on the website, fill out the forms and I will review the forms and make sure that they actually qualify so they aren’t wasting their time,” she said. “If they qualify the nurses contact them and schedule them in.”

Roark said X-rays are inexpensive for her clinic, and costs to the patients are about the third of the price of other places.

“We are also getting a lot of people who are

Ken Cieslinski, left, South Barry County Ambulance District board president, and Brent Cruse, with DeWitt and Associates, tour the Eagle Rock EMS station under construction. The building is expected to be done my

mid-March. Kyle Troutman/editor@cassville-democrat.com