Nelson medical center gets $5 million in stimulus money for expansion

Nelson County’s Blue Ridge Medical Center will get $5 million in federal stimulus money to help treat increasing numbers of low-income and uninsured patients, the White House announced Wednesday.

The grant means more medical services, including programs of care for children and the elderly, will be available for low-income and uninsured residents, said Peggy Whitehead, the center’s director.

Residents of southern Nelson County and northern Amherst County use the center on U.S. 29 near Colleen.

About 9,200 people sought health care last year, and an average of 150 new patients a month continue walk in the door this year, according to a news release from Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th District.

Perriello and Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., supported the center’s application for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, and both of them announced the results Wednesday.

Whitehead was in Washington for President Obama’s announcement, which covered $600 million in stimulus-fund grants to community health centers in more than 30 states.

She didn’t get to meet Obama, Whitehead said, but “I did get to watch a wonderful speech. I was about 20 feet away from him, and what a thrill that was,” Whitehead said.

Perriello said the Blue Ridge Medical Center “is critical in delivering quality, affordable health care to our rural communities,” and new jobs would be created during the expansion.

Whitehead said construction must be finished within two years under stimulus-fund requirements.

Webb said the medical center “serves as a safety net for Nelson County and surrounding-area residents who wouldn’t otherwise have the means to see a primary-care doctor or seek preventive care.”
The funds announced Wednesday will increase the number of examination rooms from 13 to 21 in the center, which started operating in the late 1980s in a manufactured building. The center has been expanded twice, said Woody Greenberg, one of its founders.

Its staff includes three physicians, and doctors from the University of Virginia also see patients at the center, Greenberg said.

The coming expansion also seeks to make dental care available to residents, who often lack transportation to dentists’ offices, Greenberg said. Additional funding still is needed for the dental services, Perriello’s news release said.

“I’m glad Perriello took an interest in this,” said Greenberg, who is retired as a communications professor at Lynchburg College.

Greenberg said he was happy for Whitehead and for the center’s current board of directors.

“People need to understand the board is an all-volunteer board of people representing a wide variety of income levels and social levels in the Nelson County community,” Greenberg said. “Those volunteers deserve a lot of credit for this expansion. It’s been a long time coming,” he said.

The Blue Ridge center also had received two earlier grants, totaling $813,644, Webb’s office said.