TUTWILER — Residents of west Tallahatchie County now have access to state-of-the-art health care in a sparkling new clinic facility.
On Monday, Dec. 9, the Tutwiler Clinic opened its new facility on Highway 49 in Tutwiler to the public.
The new clinic building, a project years in the making, has 7,500 square feet of space, boasts six exam rooms, separate waiting rooms for sick and well visitors, a modern laboratory, and space for future service lines including radiology, podiatry, vision and dental services.
The new clinic has a covered patient drop-off area, adequate office space for its doctors, nurses and other staff, as well as a larger space for registration clerks to greet patients.
“We’re thrilled to open the new Tutwiler Clinic,” said Tallahatchie General Hospital CEO Jim Blackwood. “People on the west side of Tallahatchie County deserve good health care in a good clinic, and this new building will help make that possible.”
Tallahatchie General Hospital CEO Jim Blackwood
He added that TGH is also “proud to be a part of the Tutwiler Clinic’s long, rich legacy.”
An earlier version of the clinic had closed in the 1970s, leaving Tutwiler and the surrounding area without access to health care. In 1983, Dr. Anne Brooks, a nun, reopened the clinic as part of a mission to provide health care to indigent patients.
When Dr. Brooks retired in 2017, Tallahatchie General Hospital agreed to assume operation of the clinic.
“Keeping that spirit of the Tutwiler Clinic has always been important to us,” Blackwood said, “but keeping it going in the old building was a challenge.”
The former clinic building was originally constructed in the 1950s and had been added on to and altered several times.
“It had every kind of problem a medical clinic could have,” noted Blackwood. “We struggled to make it ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] compliant. We struggled to keep the rain out. We struggled to heat it in the winter and cool it in the summer. It frankly was a testament to Dr. Brooks that they kept it going as long as they did.”
Realizing that staying in the existing building was no longer an option, Blackwood said the decision was made to build a new one.
“We were very fortunate that the clinic had a nationwide network of donors who were moved by Dr. Brooks’ story and her work,” he noted. “When we announced plans to replace the building, those donors generously responded and made the new clinic possible. We’re so proud and happy that the clinic has a nice, new building for its next 50 years.”
A dedication ceremony has been planned for Jan. 17 beginning at 2 p.m.
