New use for old Health Department

The county has already found a new use for the old Health Department.

The Warren County Employee Health Clinic is expected to relocate there and add a second nurse practitioner.

The clinic offers free healthcare to school system employees, county government employees, and their families. It’s been a well-received service since it began operation about 20 months ago.

The Employee Health Clinic has been operating at the school system’s Central Office at 2558 Morrison Street. Due to demand, the county and school system have partnered to add funding for a second nurse practitioner.

“Everybody loves the health clinic,” said County Executive Terry Bell. “The only complaint I’ve heard is that sometimes there can be a little wait time to get an appointment because we only have one nurse practitioner. We really couldn’t add another one because we didn’t have the space. We’ll have more than enough space at the old Health Department so we’ll be able to hire a second nurse practitioner and that will really help.”

Bell said the free clinic is not only a great benefit for employees and their family members, it also helps the county keep its insurance costs down by handling basic healthcare needs in-house.

The old Health Department building has about 12,000 square feet. Bell said it’s been discussed to let the Employee Health Clinic have around 5,000 square feet and let the Drug Court program have about 5,000.

Drug Court currently operates in the basement of the Chamber of Commerce building and has outgrown that space.

The way the old Health Department is constructed with long wings, Bell said it would be easy to keep the two programs separate.