The Lowndes County Health Department showed off its new, $2.8 million, state-of-the-art facility at a grand opening celebration Monday.
Health department employees said they were ecstatic to be out of the old building and into the new 12,400-square-foot structure at the intersection of Lehmberg and Warpath roads in East Columbus.
“We walk into a room and the lights turn on. The (toilets) flush by themselves,” said Office Manager Brenda Martin. “We”re so happy to be here.”
The new facility is a vast improvement from the former 60-year-old building, which was in a high-crime area on Military Road, Martin said.
During their tenure there, employees had their vehicles repeatedly broken into and even witnessed a murder, she added.
“These,” she said of the employees, “are the unsung heroes.”
Although the new one-story building is smaller, it is designed more efficiently, said JBHM architect intern Casey Sibley, who worked on the plan.
“The building they were in was just dilapidated,” she said, adding that the new structure created more flow, space, privacy and security.
There was a long list of problems at the former, “extremely dysfunctional” location, said Public Health District 4 Administrator Karen McPherson.
Although Lowndes County has more people in need of the department services than most of its surrounding counties, the old building on Military Road had the second-lowest attendance in the district, McPherson said.
“People just didn”t want to come to the old facility,” she added.
While the old building was only serving about 50 percent of those who needed help, the new one should bring that number up to the state average of 80 percent, McPherson said.
The project, which has been in the works for years, was beset with setbacks ranging from funding issues to location disagreements, she said.
The county bought the property for about $200,000 and secured a $600,000 Mississippi Development Authority Community Development Block Grant for construction.
The building cost a total $2.3 million, McPherson said. The state health department also gave $500,000 for furnishings and interior work.
“It”s a one-time deal, so we”ve got to make it right,” she added.
The building will house both the medical and environmental branches of the department, McPherson said.
About 30 employees will work in the facility, which will have services including the following: family planning, Medicaid screenings, immunizations, prenatal high-risk management, weight-loss programs and nutritional education.
The environmental side of the facility, which has its own entrance, will register restaurants, monitor wastewater and treat animal bites, among other services.
Besides employees and well-wishers, the open house was also attended by several local politicians from the city and county and 1st District U.S. Rep. Travis Childers, D-Miss.
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