🎥 Ellis Co. Health Department celebrates new location with ribbon cutting

The Ellis Co. Health Clinic has moved to 2507 Canterbury in Hays.

By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

Ellis County officials celebrated the opening of the new county Health Department Thursday with a ribbon cutting and tours for the public.

The Health Department had been located at 601 Main Street but in June 2017 the Ellis County Commission approved the purchase of the former Post Rock Pediatric building at 2507 Canterbury Drive in an effort to offer expanded services.

At Thursday’s ribbon cutting County Commission Chair Dean Haselhorst thanked the tax payers of Ellis County for helping to fund another major project.

“This is another great occasion in Ellis County,” Haselhorst said. “In the past two years we’ve had great accomplishments in this county (and) none of this could have happened without all of you present and our fellow tax payers of Ellis County supporting EMS, Rural Fire, the courthouse, jail, Admin Center and now the Health Department.”

Kerry McCue, Health Services Administrator, with Ellis County Commissioners Barb Wasinger, Dean Haselhorst and Marcy McClelland

(Video and photos by Becky Kiser, Hays Post)

Ellis County Director of Health and EMS Kerry McCue also said he wanted to thank Ellis County residents.

“We’ve known for years that we had space issues and the commission took the bull by the horns and said we’re going to fix these,” McCue said. “With the support of the tax payers, in a number of ways, these buildings have come to fruition.”

After a renovation was completed by Commercial Builders and staff completed the move to the new location the Health Department re-opened on Monday, April 23. With all of the changes complete and with the addition of Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Maren Moody, the Health Department can now offer the expanded services.

“In addition to the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) Program and the immunizations and the allergy shots and those kinds of things that we’ve done for years, we are going to start seeing some nonacute disease processes,” McCue said.

“We don’t want to do the care that you continue to follow your physician because that’s what your physician is for,” said McCue. “We’re a stopgap to help you get some quick medical care when you can’t get in to your physician.”

McCue said they will continue to offer services they have traditionally and that includes flu shots. The Health Department has administered more than 500 flu shots this flu season.

The new location also allows for more room. According to McCue there are four exam rooms with additional space for the reception area and staff offices.

At Thursday’s ribbon cutting McCue thanked previous Health Director Butch Schlyer for the part he played in helping the project become a reality.

“He was involved in wanting to expand this building, so we took some of his original drawings from what they talked about doing down at 601 Main and tried to incorporate them into this building,” McCue said.

“Butch always wanted to do a mid-level practitioner, and I was able to dot the I’s and cross the T’s with the legwork that he had done prior to my taking over a little over a year ago.”

Schlyer worked for the Ellis County Health Department for more than 20 years before retiring in 2016.

Patients wanting to see Moody should make an appointment by calling 785-628-9440.

The Health Department hours are Monday through Thursday 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.