Georgia Mountains Health (GMH), a nonprofit health care provider with medical and dental offices in Gilmer County, will use $4.2 million loaned by USDA Rural Development to combine those two practices in a new facility.
GMH, which also has offices in Fannin, Lumpkin and Murray counties, was among 22 Georgia recipients of recent grants or loans from USDA Rural Development.
A total of $13 million was awarded statewide to increase access to health care and public safety in rural communities.
“These loans and grants are investments not only for facilities and services that are vital to all communities, such as health care facilities and first responder vehicles and equipment, they represent investment in prosperity and opportunity in rural Georgia,” commented Reggie Taylor, Georgia USDA Rural Development’s state director.
Steven Miracle, Georgia Mountains Health CEO, said the health care provider has outgrown the two buildings it currently leases in Gilmer — a medical office on Maddox Drive and Super Friendly Dental on Sailors Drive. Those two locations will close after moving to the new building, Miracle confirmed.
The forthcoming 12,000-square foot medical center will be built on Cinema Drive, in East Ellijay near the Highland Crossing shopping area.
“We will have family practice and general, routine medical care. We’ll have a pediatrician who’ll be relocating there, and we’ll be doing women’s health services. We will also be providing mental health counseling,” Miracle said. “On the dental side, we’ll be able to provide children’s and adult dental services. Today, the dental practice is primarily focused on children. By relocating to a bigger space, we’ll be able to add adult dentistry there.”
The larger facility will also allow for more patients to be seen, he said.
“We will increase our ability to see patients by about 50 percent,” Miracle confirmed. “Our plan is to hire additional dentists and medical staff to work out of that building.”
Miracle said construction on the building is expected to begin by the end of March, and he’s hopeful relocation can happen by the end of the calendar year.
“We’ve been in two locations for the medical practice in Gilmer County. Up the road (from where we are now) is where we started,” he added. “We outgrew that space and (moved to) the space where we currently are. Now it’s time to move again.”
The $4.2 million loaned to GMH is the second largest allocation of funds in the recent USDA healthcare/ community infrastructure investment initiative. It will be paid back over 30 years, and the total project cost is $4.46 million, according to the state Rural Development office in Athens.
“Our eligibility was in two ways,” said Miracle. “One was because of the rural area in which we are located. Two is because we are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and that makes us eligible.”
Miracle said GMH also built its Blue Ridge facility several years ago with funding from a USDA loan.
“We had multiple offices there and were able to build a building and relocate those practices. That’s been doing very well for us. We’re doing pretty much a similar thing (in Gilmer County),” he added.