By Stefanie Jackson – The new Eastville Community Health Center under construction is nearly half built and almost fully funded, Eastern Shore Rural Health CEO Nancy Stern announced last week.
“A picture’s worth a thousand words,” Stern told Northampton supervisors before she showed them video footage of the ongoing construction.
As of July 9, construction of the 24,500-square foot building was 46% complete. The Eastville Community Health Center will replace the old Franktown and Bayview community health centers that have only 13,700 square feet combined.
The cost of the project is $11.7 million, and 96% of the funds have been raised, Stern said.
Another $514,000 is needed. The Cabell Foundation, of Richmond, Va., has challenged ESRH to raise the remaining funds through its award of a $150,000 matching grant.
An anonymous donor kickstarted the “last hurrah” of the fundraising effort with a $5,000 donation, and he challenges the public to match his contribution, Stern said.
Eastern Shore residents have already contributed $1.4 million to ESRH’s capital fund campaign.
The Eastville Community Health Center is similar in design to Eastern Shore Rural Health’s two newest community health centers in Atlantic and Onley.
The new buildings are recognized by their green roofs. The materials to build the Eastville health center’s green roof are expected to arrive by early August, Stern said.
The new health center was originally expected to open in the fall of 2019, but not wanting “to over-promise and under-deliver,” Stern is now projecting the building will open for business in “very early 2020.”
The Franktown and Bayview health centers currently employ about 70 people, and the move to the larger Eastville health center will add 11 new jobs, Stern said.
The two old buildings will be maintained and six dental chairs will remain open at the Franktown health center, she confirmed. The entire Franktown campus will be used for various services, including ESRH’s call center.
Stern announced that the new health center will be named after Calvin Brickhouse, who died in 2013. Brickhouse was a Northampton County teacher, principal, and school board member who also served on Eastern Shore Rural Health’s board of directors.
Supervisor John Coker thanked Stern for “everything you and your organization do for this community. It’s outstanding. I’ve been there, my grandchildren have been there, and you’ve taken good care of us.”
“Anybody that hasn’t gone there, please go,” he told the public in attendance. “I think you’ll get great service, it’s usually very fast, and if you call ahead they’ll tell you when you can come in and they’ll fit you right in.”
