PORTSMOUTH, Va. — When you walk into the Fishing Point Healthcare Clinic in Portsmouth, you may feel like you’re walking into any other doctor’s office.
“We are definitely not like any other doctor’s office that you would go to," said Nurse Practitioner Sherry Johnson.
Johnson will be working at the clinic and help provide the variety of services offered.
The clinic was created by the Nansemond Tribe in Suffolk to serve the indigenous community and people who often have a hard time finding care, like people on Medicaid and the uninsured.
Portsmouth
Nansemond Tribe opening health clinic in Portsmouth
It will be managed by a business, Fishing Point Healthcare, created by the tribe.
“The whole point of our clinic, and everybody in health care hopefully, is to bring about health equality," Johnson explained.
There was still some work to be done as of Feb. 12 to finish the clinic, but in the meantime, the facility could begin seeing patients.
Johnson estimates hundreds of patients could be seen each day once all the work is done.
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“We expect to lessen the burden of stress on some of our emergency rooms that are here in the area," Johnson said. "A lot of patients, if you don’t know, who don’t have insurance, they go to the emergency room. Where else can they go that they don’t have to worry about paying today?”
Michael Pigford is the pharmacy director at the clinic and is looking forward to the challenge, and getting the shelves filled with prescriptions.
“It’s going to start with the As and then just kind of wrap its way all the way around until you get to the Zs. Then, even in the back, you can kind of see a sign hanging up that says hazardous drugs. They have to have their own section," Pigford said, explaining how prescriptions will be stocked. "It’s state-of-the-art. This is the best pharmacy I’ve been in so far in my career."
Nansemond Tribe Chief Keith Anderson said seeing the clinic come to fruition is "incredible."
“Spiritual, physical, and emotional health are mainstays for any human being and to be able to get the quality of care that you will get here is amazing," said Anderson.
An official grand opening for the clinic was scheduled for June. All of the remaining work was expected to be complete in the fall.
This is the first of several clinics the tribe hopes to open. The goal is to have one in each city in Hampton Roads.
