Buckingham County taking ownership of former Sentara health clinic

BUCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) - The fight to keep a medical center open in Buckingham County now has a happy ending.

The Sentara Buckingham Family Medicine clinic was set to shut down last year after serving the county for 40 years. The clinic was just one of two practices in the area and without it hundreds of people would’ve been left without a doctor nearby.

Now, creating a petition and marching to keep the clinic open, Sentara is gifting the clinic to the county.

”We are so pleased and gracious that Sentara stepped up to the plate as we are getting out of this pandemic with COVID-19, and they really knocked the ball out of the park when it came to that corporate responsibility and meeting it,” said Jordan Miles, a member of the Buckingham County Board of Supervisors.

Now, the county will be responsible for finding a new physician to take over the practice.

Sandra Moss, a life-long patient at the clinic, says this will give people living in Buckingham County, most of them over the age of 65 and below the federal poverty line, a closer option.

“It’s a real hardship. People don’t realize we do have a health center here, but it’s a real hardship for people to travel 55 miles to go to the same doctor,” Moss said. “Not everybody can do it, to get someone to take them. So it’s a real plus for the county.”

Copyright 2021 WVIR. All rights reserved.