Flintstone residents now have more convenient access to medical care thanks to the recent opening of a new walk-in clinic on Chattanooga Valley Road.
Flintstone Ready Clinic, an offshoot of the Ringgold Ready Clinic in Catoosa County, was established to address the Flintstone area's deficit in health care, said practice manager and medical assistant Jennifer McDaniel. Before the clinic opened its doors May 25, she explained, many residents had to commute to Rossville, Fort Oglethorpe, LaFayette or Chattanooga to seek primary care.
Family nurse practitioners Betsye Allison, Leslie Weaver, Leila Clark and Sarah Harris provide care for patients at Flintstone Ready Clinic, which is owned by Weaver."A lot of the doctors had moved out of the area, and there's nothing that is close locally," McDaniel said. "We just felt like there was a need in the area."
The clinic provides general family health care and primary care for those age 5 and up. The office also provides weight loss services, conducts Department of Transportation physical exams required to operate commercial vehicles, and offers bioidentical hormone therapy, which is typically used to provide menopause relief.
As a walk-in clinic, the staff works to treat visitors in a "reasonable time frame," said McDaniel. Barring serious medical issues, patients can often get in and out within 30-45 minutes.
"We definitely try to make it a very friendly environment, but we also try to be very conscious of people's time," she said.
Flintstone Ready Clinic sits at 3257 Chattanooga Valley Road. The new facility provides affordable care for those in the community.Another point of pride, McDaniel continued, is the clinic's affordability, which offers competitive self-pay rates for the uninsured. A normal visit rate at the clinic is $65, she said, while other walk-in clinics across the state offer basic care ranging anywhere from $75-$150. The Flintstone location also offers additional discount programs to enable locals to seek the care they need.
Right now, Flintstone Ready Clinic is only open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but it is expected to start opening five days a week as the clinic's patient base grows.
McDaniel said she hopes visitors will feel at home at the clinic, which she described as having a "hometown, traditional doctor-patient relationship."
"The community has welcomed us, we've had a lot of people who have just stopped in to say 'Hello,'" she said. "They've been very supportive. So we feel like it's going well."
All are welcome to learn more about the facility at ringgoldreadyclinic.com or by connecting through Facebook.
Email Myron Madden at mmadden@timesfreepress.com.
Walker County government officials and members of the Walker County Chamber of Commerce join staff from Flintstone Ready Clinic for its ribbon-cutting ceremony in May. (Contributed photo)