Mobile clinic to replace Soddy-Daisy Health Department site

By Mason Edwards, Chattanooga Times Free Press

Hamilton County Health Department / The Sequoyah Health Center exterior is pictured. The center, which serves as the Soddy-Daisy location of the Hamilton County Health Department, will soon close and be replaced by a mobile unit.

After more than three decades of serving residents, the Soddy-Daisy branch of the Hamilton County Health Department will close its doors Monday to be replaced by a mobile health unit that officials said will improve access and flexibility.

The mobile unit will be outfitted with the same services as the physical one, but staffing will vary based on the services offered each day. It will begin rotating through a schedule of rural community locations beginning Wednesday, according to the department's online events calendar.

The transition was a difficult and joint decision, interim Health Department Administrator Sonia Calvin said in a written statement, but the move followed a nearly 80% drop in patients since 2019, according to a department-provided fact sheet.

(READ MORE: Hamilton County Health Department to shut doors of Soddy-Daisy clinic)

Mobile clinic July schedule

-- Monday: Soddy-Daisy Food City

-- Tuesday: Sale Creek Fire Department

-- Wednesday: Soddy-Daisy Food City

-- Thursday: Chester Frost Park

-- Friday: Soddy-Daisy Head Start

Source: Hamilton County Health Department Events Calendar

"Transportation and convenience have long been barriers for the community, which is why the goal of the mobile unit is to meet their needs directly at those locations," the written statement said. "By taking our services on the road, we can expand accessibility and help eliminate obstacles that prevent the community from accessing affordable health care."

In 2023, 500 patients visited the physical clinic, the fact sheet said. Meanwhile, the location's operating costs for that year were over $825,000. Year over year, the net cost per patient ballooned from $385 in 2019 to $1,647 in 2023, according to the fact sheet.

"When we evaluated the cost of operating the clinic versus the number of patients served, it clarified what is a difficult decision," Calvin, whose hiring followed the firing of her predecessor, said in the written statement.

Calvin said the staff from the Soddy-Daisy location will manage the mobile clinic, and services will differ by location. Details can be found on the Health Department's events calendar.

County Commissioner Gene-o Shipley, who represents the Soddy-Daisy area and visited the clinic in person, said he hasn't received any complaints about the closure.

"And I'm generally the person everybody calls," Shipley said in a phone interview. "But when I went over there, I spoke to the ladies at work, and they felt like the mobile clinic are going to serve the people better."

He noted that when the clinic opened, health insurance options were more limited than today.

"Now you know, with TennCare and different types of insurance, most people have some kind of insurance," he said.

Still, the loss of a long-standing neighborhood resource has some residents concerned about mobile clinic's ability to develop the same personal relationships as the physical location.

Sara Hansen, 22, grew up in Soddy-Daisy and said she hopes the new mobile clinic emphasizes family-oriented care, wherein the staff invests the time to know the patients. If done right, she said, she thought the mobile clinic could be a benefit to the community.

"It was heartbreaking really to hear that part, that big pillar of Soddy-Daisy would be closing, and I wasn't expecting it," she said by phone. "It was the true family medicine. When I was kid and growing up, if you needed anything, you had one doctor that you went to, the entire family went to it ... it was very personal."

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Lifelong Soddy-Daisy resident Penny Hiltman, 35, said the clinic provided essential services for her family when she was a teen mother. Now, she's worried other community members won't have access to affordable services.

"It's helped a lot of people over the years, one being my grandmother," Hiltman said by phone. "They used to have a dentist there ... my pediatrician was there. I have fond memories of the place, honestly."

Hiltman said she has an upcoming appointment scheduled at a nearby clinic, Fast Pace, but she will miss the health center.

"There's a lot of low-income people in the area," she said. "I'd guess I'd probably have to use one of the Fast Pace, or something like that, but it's still not very affordable."

She said the clinic's staff had become like a family over the years, taking care of her and her children.

"It's probably something we're going to have to accept," she said of the closure. "I don't know what could be done about it."