Big changes, yet no real changes, will be coming to medical help in Lavaca. River Valley Primary Care Services will be taking the place of the Lavaca Wellness Clinic on October 1, 2019.
In a presentation made this week by Mike Blaylock, Assistant Executive Director of River Valley Primary Care, it was announced to the senior citizen that changes would be made in the fall. In his speech, Blaylock said that Dr. Bob Sanders called RVPC and told them that he was retiring. He sought them out to keep quality healthcare in our local clinic. The fit was a good one.
River Valley Primary Care headquarters are in Ratcliff, Arkansas and they will have locations: Fort Smith (2), Mountainburg, Mulberry, Eastside (previously Barling), Lamar (school based), Waldron, Clarksville and now Lavaca. In their mission statement, they pledge to “provide quality, comprehensive primary and preventative healthcare to all residents of the area without regard to their ability to pay.” Blaylock stated that while they accept all traditional insurance plans, they will also introduce a “Sliding Fee Discount Program.” RVPC is federally funded. So, in this program, eligibility will be based on your gross household income, household size, and calculated using a federal poverty guideline.
Some of the changes will include access to more physicians and provide family practice medicine, pediatrics, women’s health, and dentistry. You will be able to contact your clinic after hours, on weekend’s or holidays. They will provide bilingual services through a language line and auxiliary aids and services will be available at our clinic as well.
Dr. Bob Sanders retirement from medical practice allows him the chance of serving in a different area of the medical field. He will soon be an instructor at the Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine at Chaffee Crossing.
If the name Mike Blaylock sounds familiar to some of you, Mike is a 1988 graduate of Lavaca High School. “I definitely have a passion for what I do to serve small communities like this one that I grew up in,” Blaylock told the crowd. Wansley Harrison, LTSW, also spoke, assuring the people that “we are keeping things the same for you but bringing new things that you didn’t have before.”
