There is a lot of excitement about the completion of a project two years in the making in this western Illinois community.
Parking was tough to come by during much of the open house held from 4:00 pm to 7::00 pm Wednesday at the new McDonough District Hospital medical clinic in Bushnell.
“We’ve had this kind of traffic since about 3:30 this afternoon,” said MDH President and CEO Kenny Boyd. “About 30 minutes before it started we had them lined up and waiting to come in.”
The MDH McDonough Medical Group facility, which opened last week, is located at 1150 North Cole Street. It houses the offices of family practitioner Dr. John Arnold and family nurse practitioner Carrie Helle.
The building includes five medical exam rooms, a procedure room, and a rehabilitation services therapy room.
A portion of the building could eventually house an ambulance service, though that portion of the building is not complete.
“The ambulance garage and the EMS crew rooms have been built. They’re shelled in, they’re not finished, so the structure is already there,” said Boyd.
“When the appropriate time comes, it would allow us to just finish those spaces out to be able to add that service.”
The building cost MDH $2.1 million. The city of Bushnell and the Bushnell Economic Development Corporation contributed to the project by buying the five-acres of land, and the city extended utilities to the site.
MDH is using just a portion of the land. There is room to build other medical offices, either by MDH or other care providers – for example, a dentist or a chiropractor.
