After years at 14 W. Jordan Street, Community Health Northwest Florida is relocating a range of walk-in, primary care, and pharmacy services to a new home at 1400 N. Palafox St.
The new facility will take over former LabCorp offices and will become a 16,000-square-foot facility, a significant upgrade from the 5,000-square-foot facility in West Jordan. It will have 18 examination rooms, phlebotomy and radiology departments, two large, comfortable waiting areas and a 1,000-square-foot pharmacy with a drive-thru.
The new facility is located approximately half a mile south of the old site and should remain easily accessible to current CHNF patients.
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“We’ve lived in that neighborhood for 30 years, so it was important that we maintain a footprint in the community we’ve always called home,” said Chandra Smiley, CEO of Community Health Northwest Florida, in a statement announcing the grand opening. . .
Established in 1992, CHNF is a non-profit health center that provides comprehensive health care to the medically disadvantaged people of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.
Smiley said at Monday’s grand opening that combining the walk-in clinic and pharmacy at the new location allows CHNF to serve patients more easily and efficiently.
“Our mission is that we believe that everyone has a basic right to quality, comprehensive care and services. It is therefore very important that we are reachable. It’s important that we have facilities that are warm and inviting, and that our services are top-notch,” said Smiley.
The West Jordan Street facility was able to serve approximately 70-80 patients and can now easily serve more than 100 patients.
“We’re not just a clinic, we’re a medical home, so we want to take care of the whole patient — the whole family, in fact — because we have pediatric services, we have dental services, we have health and wellness services.”
The facility is located near an Escambia County Area Transit line where patients in need of transportation assistance can easily take the bus and be dropped off right in front of the clinic.
In a few weeks, the clinic will also use the adjacent building at 1380 N. Palafox St. for their behavioral health and wellness services. It offers yoga and meditation classes, an optometry shop, and some extra space for onboarding and staff training.
The pharmacy will have a drive-thru that will allow people to refill their prescriptions without having to enter the clinic. It will also allow easier access to the providers if there is something wrong with the regulations. They will also still use their delivery person who can deliver to housebound patients.
dr. Darrell Miller, head of the pharmacy office, thinks it’s a win-win situation for everyone at the clinic.
“It just makes it easier to work with the health care providers for the benefit of the patients,” Miller said. “For the patient, it’s just a big advantage for them to have everything under one roof. They can visit their provider, get their labs, X-rays and their pharmacy all in one place.”
According to its website, CHNF has 17 locations in the provinces of Escambia and Santa Rosa.
Floods damaged CHNF’s first offices at 2200 N. Palafox St., forcing the clinic to move to 14 W. Jordan Street. The facility served as the clinic’s headquarters until 2018, when CHNF moved to a new, modern facility at 2315 W. Jackson St.
The new location on Palafoxstraat is open seven days a week. The opening hours are from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
Community Health The Northwest Florida Pharmacy in Palafox is open weekdays from 9am to 5:30pm and Saturdays from 9am to noon.
Community Health Northwest Florida accepts Medicaid and Medicaid Managed Care plans, including Simply Healthcare, Sunshine Health, WellCare, and Humana, as well as most commercial insurance. The health center also offers a sliding rate plan for uninsured patients.
All healthcare providers accept new patients at the Palafox location. For more information, call Community Health Northwest Florida on Palafox at 850-444-9449 or visit healthcarewithinreach.org or Facebook.