Video by Cooper Slough

By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

A stereotypical doctor visit is something almost no one enjoys — time in a sterile white-walled waiting room reading old magazines, uncomfortable chairs in the patient rooms, with the same posters on the walls dating back years,  and the lack of privacy and inconvenience as test are performed and samples are taken.

All of these things were considered when Dr. Tonya Knoll decided to build a new facility at 1100 E. 22nd in Hays, and the result is an office with cutting-edge tech surrounded by comfortable furnishings in a facility decorated more like a home than a doctor’s office.

“I wanted to go with a very contemporary, homey theme,” Knoll said. She bought the artwork for the facility over the last couple of years in anticipation of moving into the new space.

Along with the art, a large chandelier dominates the eyeline of the waiting room

“The chandelier just kind of followed the flow of the architecture of the ceiling,” Knoll said. “I really love the contemporary feel and the homey feel and that’s the kind of thing patients are telling me when they’re coming in is that it feels very homey and new and state-of-the-art.”

As is often the case with design, the building centered around a single piece — in this case, a bathroom sink.

“The whole entire theme of everything started in here. The sink was the very first thing I bought a year and a half ago, and the entire place was based on that sink,” Knoll said.

But the contemporary design didn’t end there, as the space feels open with the addition of large glass windows and mirrors.

“I love windows. I think they make places look bigger. It opens things up, lets you see what going on,” Knoll said.

In conjunction with the visual elements comes state-of-the-art technology integrated into the facility, including large interactive information screens.

“We had a company come in and they offer some neat technology for our patients — iPads that they can (use to) tap the particular disease process that they have or that they want to learn about,” Knoll said. “This way when they are waiting in the waiting room … they have something to do other than a standard magazine.”

Digital displays are also placed in patient rooms.

“That way, we don’t have to have paper posters, with corners always ripping and curling on the walls. It keeps it neat,” Knoll said.

The technology isn’t just for show either. The move to the new facility brought many new services, including walk-ins being accepted on Mondays and Fridays.

“If that works well and I see a continued need, that may be something we open up to where we are a walk-in clinic at all times,” Knoll said. “I feel that it’s better to get in here than have to go the emergency room and wait in a long line and incur a huge bill.”

Services Knoll provides include treatment of lacerations, allergy testing, diabetic care, INR testing, osteoporosis care, physicals, well child checks, immunizations, dermatological procedures and others.

Other tests can be done from blood drawn in office that will be sent to area labs.

For services that cannot be addressed in the clinic, Knoll takes care in sending patients to trusted physicians.

“If things get a little beyond our realm of expertise, that’s when we start the referral process. I have the freedom of referring anywhere, because I’m not locked into a certain system,” Knoll said. “I make sure that I do not send or refer my patients to any physician I would not go to.”

With the building being much larger than need for Knoll the majority of the building is open for other practitioners.

“I only use a third of this building,” Knoll said. “For the other two-thirds, the plan is to rent them out to other physicians, massage therapists, physical therapists — some kind of business that would work well in this type of facility.”

The available space includes several offices, practitioner spaces and a full nursing station.

Knoll said some interest has been shown in the spaces, but no one has yet moved in.

The entire project has been a dream of Knoll’s since medical school, one that she now gets to live, with her husband, who works as the office manager.

“I’ve had this dream. … One day, we can move back to Hays, which is where we are both from,” she said. “The way the pieces fell, it just happened. … We started little and now we’re here. This is what I wanted, ultimately.”

For more information about the clinic and to stay informed about their latest happenings, visit their Facebook page here.