Health Center of Southeast Texas, a Cleveland-based federally qualified health center (FQHC), is opening a sixth clinic – the newest one set to open on March 21 in the Colony Ridge communities south of Plum Grove.

Located at 871 CR 3549, the new clinic will have eight employees – including a nurse practitioner and pediatrician – on staff to serve the growing medical needs of the community.

As HCSET expects the new clinic to be high-traffic, hours for this clinic will be extended from 8 a.m. to 8 pm.

“We see a minimum of 25 patients a day at our clinics but the new will probably start out at 18 per day at minimum,” said Steve Racciato, executive director of Health Center of Southeast Texas.

The new clinic is a 36 X 60-foot modular structure that was built per HCSET’s specifications and funded by operating revenues.

At nearly the same time that the new clinic opens, another HCSET clinic in Dayton, located at 2206 N. Cleveland St., is temporarily closing to allow for improvements to be made to the site. The Dayton clinic has been operating out of a mobile home that will be replaced with a modular building similar to the one in Plum Grove. The new building was purchased from federal grant proceeds. March 16 is the last day it will be opened before renovations begin.

“We are hoping to get it done by the end of June,” Racciato said. “The goal for that building is to have an MD provider, medical assistant, front desk receptionist, office manager and a floater who will help out where it it is needed.”

Health Center of Southeast Texas was incorporated in March 2015 and opened the doors of its first clinic in Cleveland on Jan. 16, 2006. On Sept. 1, 2007, HCSET became a FQHC.

Every year, at its clinics in Cleveland, Shepherd, Liberty, Livingston and Dayton, HCSET medical providers see an average of 14,600 individual patients for an annual 39,000 patient care visits. Those numbers are expected to increase significantly once the Plum Grove area clinic opens.

On Sept. 3, 2020, HCSET opened a pharmacy to serve its patients at the Cleveland clinic, located at 307 N. William Barnett Ave. Since that time, the number of prescriptions filled by the pharmacy has grown from 120-150 per month to 120-150 per day.

HCSET employs 110 members of staff.

Written By: The Bluebonnet News