FORT VALLEY, Ga. — According to the Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center, a quarter of the adults in Peach County are in poor health.
But with the relocation of Atriums Health Navicent's Fort Valley Primary Care Clinic, there is more room to help patients get the help they need quickly.
Kasey Fish is a family nurse practitioner at Atrium Health Navicent Fort Valley. She says she's wanted to help people in communities that need care.
Fish says she sees patients who have diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney disease and other health problems.
The biggest change she noticed from the Blue Bird Boulevard location to the new location is how many people they can help in one day. She says the Fort Valley clinic sees a variety of patients.
"Whether they be self-pay, commercial insurance, Medicaid or Medicare, they come from all of the surrounding counties. Peach County and the surrounding counties of Peach County. Most of them are mostly underserved populations so we are providing a phenomenal service for this community," Fish said.
Erica Smith Johnson was raised in Fort Valley but lives in Warner Robins.
The retired Houston County educator has been coming to Atrium's primary care clinics in Peach County for over 25 years. She says when she comes to the clinic, she notices doctors and nurses pay special attention to her health needs.
"So this facility, I mean it embodies the whole feeling of home, we care for you and we'll take care of you," Smith Johnson said.
Smith Johnson said she was diagnosed with abdominal cancer in 2012, left and right lung cancer in 2021 and is undergoing treatment for left lung cancer. That being said, she says God has been good to her.
While her cancer treatment is at a different Atrium office, she comes to the Fort Valley clinic routinely.
"I'm here every six months getting a check-up. I am always up on my health," Smith Johnson said.
Smith Johnson says she likes coming to the Fort Valley clinic because of how accessible it is for her and other Peach County natives. Fish says other patients from surrounding counties like Taylor County come to this location for their health care needs too.
"Most of them are underserved populations so we are providing a phenomenal service to this community," Fish said.
Atrium Health Navicent Fort Valley also provides services for women's health, DOT physicals, chronic disease management and same-day sick appointments.