Construction will soon begun on a new multipurpose health care clinic in East Ellijay, which is expected to open next spring.
Ground was officially broken on the new Georgia Mountains Health facility Monday, Aug. 8. The almost 12,000-square foot clinic is being funded by a $4.2 million loan from USDA Rural Development.
Representatives from Georgia Mountains Health, Georgia USDA Rural Development, the City of East Ellijay and others attended the groundbreaking ceremony at 80 Cinema Drive.
“This right here is a community changer, and I think you guys are going to do some fantastic work to support the community. This is one of those good infrastructure projects that we’re looking for,” said Reggie Taylor, state USDA Rural Development director, at the groundbreaking.
Georgia Mountains Health, which offers its primary health services on a sliding fee scale determined by family income, initially planned to get the building started before now, noted Steven Miracle, the nonprofit health care provider’s CEO.
Grading and clearing the site started this summer, and construction is being handled by Twin Shores, an Illinois-based company.
“We did this once about a year and a half ago, but we were a little bit premature and too excited about getting the project started during COVID,” Miracle said. “As things happened and the world changed, it took a little bit longer than what we had thought to finally get to this point.”
The new facility will allow the Blue Ridge-based health care provider to move its two current Gilmer offices, a medical practice on Maddox Drive and Super Friendly Dental on Sailors Drive, into one building. Behavioral health counseling and addiction support services will also be offered there, he noted.
“We have a growing MAT program, medicated assistance therapy, out of our Ellijay office to help folks who are addicted to opioids and alcohol,” said Miracle. “We’ve got about 40 people in that program right now, and it will be a key component of what we do in this practice — to help folks who’ve stumbled into addiction.”
This is the second Georgia Mountains Health location to be funded by the USDA. Miracle said its Blue Ridge office was built several years back with funding from a USDA loan. Other offices are located in Lumpkin and Murray County.
Without any setbacks, the East Ellijay location is expected to open in March of 2023, Miracle noted.
“We’ve got our fingers crossed that will happen,” he said.