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WEST POINT — Wellstar Medical Group Family Medicine – West Point has moved its practice to a new location in downtown West Point. It’s now located at 599 West 3rd Avenue in the former Bank of America building. It was formerly located at 1029 Highway 29, not far from where Highway 29 branches off 10th Street and heads north to LaGrange.

On noon Monday, the Greater Valley Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon-cutting at the new location to welcome the new family medical office on its first day of seeing patients in the completely renovated space.

Coleman Foss, president and CEO of Wellstar West Georgia, LaGrange, said the new office had undergone a dramatic transformation from what the interior of the building looked like since the first time he saw it. 

“We have come from an empty building with empty beer coolers to this,” he said, crediting Batson-Cook on having done a first-class job with the project.

The most recent occupant of the building was a business that sold lottery tickets and beer.

Kaiya Dowtin, assistant vice president of operations for the Wellstar Medical Group, Marietta, said she was extremely pleased that Wellstar is now providing the citizens of West Point and the surrounding area a new health clinic that’s significantly improved over Wellstar’s previous clinic.

The new building has 13 exam rooms, compared to the old location which had only four exam rooms. 

The walls are adorned with large color photographs taken by local professional photographer Lee Cathey.

The front of the building faces West 4th Avenue. Patients enter from that side. 

Just inside the front door is an interesting feature on the lower portion of the front desk. It was once part of the front to the Bank of America vault. 

What’s left of the vault is now a break room in the back of the building and can serve as a safe area during storms.

Dr. James Parker, who heads the new practice, took guests at the ribbon-cutting on a tour of the building.

“This is really nice,” West Point Mayor Steve Tramell said. “Wellstar invested a lot of money in acquiring this building and refurbishing it. It’s a tremendous addition to the city, and we appreciate what they have done here.”

Wellstar provides care for school-age children, adolescents and adults. Services and treatment offered include:

• preventive care/sick visits; immunizations; diabetes; hypertension and heart disease; high cholesterol and abnormal triglycerides; arthritis and joint issues; asthma and COPD management; thyroid disorders; gastroenterology disorders; skin disorders; osteoporosis and bone disease; women’s health; physical and sports exams; nutrition counseling and weight management.

The more ample facilities will give Wellstar the opportunity to have more specialties coming on a regular basis. 

“Give us some time to get our feet under us,” Foss said, “but we want to roll our sub-specialties here. We believe the timing is right for us to do this here. We thank you for your support. We want to continue to grow and to take care of as much as we can in Troup County and the surrounding area.”

“This is a world-class facility, and we appreciate you bringing it here to West Point,” Tramell said. “We would like to have this here forever.”

“Lots of work went into having this delivery center of excellence,” Dowtin said. “It took a great team effort to get us to where we are today.”

Foss cited Batson-Cook as one of those prime team members. 

“They are also building a $25 million oncology center in LaGrange,” Foss said. 

A native of south Georgia, Dr. Parker graduated from the medical school at St. George’s University in Grenada, West Indies and received further training in the U.S. and at the National Healthcare System in the U.K. He completed his residency at the St. Vincent’s Family Medicine Residency Program in Jacksonville, Florida.

Dr. Parker is a Diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine as well as a member of the American Academy of Family Practice and the Georgia Academy of Family Practice. He prefers working in outpatient medicine with a focus on preventive medicine to help his patients achieve and maintain a good quality of life.

“We are thrilled to be in our new facility and continuing to offer exceptional care for the West Point community,” Parker said. “With health and wellness being more important than ever, we’re glad to serve the ongoing primary care needs of our patients.”

For more information about Wellstar or to schedule an appointment, visit wellstar.org or call (706) 242-5067.