Stark County will have health care access once again, more than two years after the county's only clinic closed.
The Henry-Stark County Health Department is opening a new clinic in the building formerly occupied by Aunt Martha's Great River Community Health Center in Toulon.
RaeAnn Tucker is the director of health promotion for the health department. She says residents in the rural county north of Peoria aren't currently served by a medical clinic.
"It's a medical desert. It's a health care desert," Tucker said. "So we've always wanted to have more of a medical clinic and more services available to local residents."
The State Bank of Toulon owns the building and is leasing it to the health department. Onero Rx is also partnering with the health department for the new clinic.
The new clinic will offer primary care, a WIC program, mental health treatment, public health, tele-psych, and a pharmacy. Tucker says currently, most Stark County residents have to travel to Peoria or Kewanee for basic health services, but some travel as far away as Galesburg or Princeton.
"It has been difficult, and especially if you're dealing with populations that have a barrier as to transportation, that can be another challenge to getting the proper care," she said. "So hopefully by having this multiservice health care clinic available to Stark County residents, a lot of people will get needed help maybe they've been doing without."
She noted the clinic will be just blocks away from Stark County Junior and Senior High School.
Tucker says the health department is working with a contractor and setting up clinical spaces now. They are hoping to open the clinic by December 1, but that date isn't set in stone yet.
