New Health Wagon clinic in Clintwood to honor Sister Bernie

A new Health Wagon clinic to be built in Clintwood will be named in honor of Dickenson County resident and mobile clinic founder Sister Bernie Kenny, with the order of Medical Missionaries of Mary.

Groundbreaking ceremonies for the Sister Bernie Kenny M.M.M. Clinic are set for Thursday, Oct. 24, at 707 Happy Valley Drive, in the Dickenson County industrial park. Activities get underway at 10 a.m.

Land for the new clinic was donated by the Dickenson County Industrial Development Authority.

Founded in 1980, The Health Wagon is the nation’s oldest mobile clinic and the free clinic serves medically underserved patients in Dickenson, Buchanan, Russell, Wise, Lee and Scott counties and the city of Norton.

“This clinic will be named after Sister Bernie Kenny to honor her legacy and many years of service as the founder of The Health Wagon,” the organization said in a recent announcement.

With support from the former St. Mary’s Hospital, Kenny, a nurse practitioner, undertook traveling the back roads of Dickenson County in an old Winnebago to reach those in need who could not afford traditional health care or even to transport themselves to get it. Today, The Health Wagon has three mobile units serving its patients as well as a clinic in Wise.

The need for a new clinic in Dickenson County has been urgent, The Health Wagon says. It has been located for years in crowded quarters in downtown Clintwood.

The new building will provide desperately needed space and services, it says, including private examination rooms, optometry diagnostic spaces and dispensing, radiology, a medical laboratory, pharmacy, consultation offices, conference room and provider support spaces.

The Kenny clinic also will house state-of-the-art telemedicine technologies so patients can access clinical specialists at tertiary medical centers.

“Overall, the new clinic will offer expanded capacity and treatment to meet critical health care needs of our patients,” the announcement says.

Services of The Health Wagon are provided at no cost and the organization is fully funded through grants and donations. It has made significant progress with generous contributions from donors, foundations and grants, including a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission.

Kenny will be among the speakers at next Thursday’s event along with Dr. Joseph Smiddy, medical director and board president of The Health Wagon. Also scheduled to address attendees is Tamarah Holmes, ARC Program Manager, with the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development 

Health Wagon Executive Director Teresa Tyson and Clinical Director Paula Hill-Collins, also will be on hand.

The Health Wagon expresses thanks for each donation made to this lifesaving project and specifically notes the contributions of the Titmus Foundation, the Ludwick Family Foundation, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, the Community Foundation of Northern Virginia and the Appalachian Regional Commission.

The Health Wagon also expressed appreciation to the Dickenson County IDA for the donation of the land. 

The Health Wagon is a nurse practitioner-managed clinic providing free medical, dental and vision health care services.

For more information about The Health Wagon, call 276-328-8850 or visit www.thehealthwagon.org.