Guthrie County Hospital and Clinics is moving forward with the construction of a new Panora-based clinic.

The GCH Board of Trustees approved at a recent meeting to purchase land owned by Panora Telco to build a new facility at East 13th Street and Highway 44. CEO Pat Peters says the Board has been in talks of moving the clinic from its current location at 603 East Main Street for about two years, and plans for the new clinic include nine exam rooms, three provider offices, one x-ray room, lab, reception area, and administrative offices. Peters says this larger facility will accommodate the recent addition of Nurse Practitioner Sara Van Effen and their walk-in clinic hours, and afford them to offer additional health services.

Though the hospital’s revenue saw a decrease due to the pandemic earlier this year, Peters says the Board is confident to move forward, “What motivated them was this is an opportunity to provide something back to the community in terms of the way of the breadth of services that we provide to the community. We’re very happy with the people of the county supporting our hospital and our clinics and this was a way of paying our community back.”

Shive-Hattery Architecture and Engineering is designing the estimated $2.3 million facility. Peters anticipates construction to begin in March of 2021 with completion in October or November of that year.