ENID, Okla. — Great Salt Plains Health will break ground on a new $2.7 million pediatric and family medicine clinic at 11:30 a.m. July 21, 2022 — ushering in its second location in Enid — and at the same time officially announce expansion of its existing facility on South 30th to include dental care.
“We’re excited to get it going,” Tim Starkey, Great Salt Plains CEO, said of the new clinic, which will be constructed on the northeast corner of Chestnut and Garland, where the ground-breaking will be held. Oklahoma Sen. Roland Pederson will be the keynote speaker, and the Rev. James Edmison, GSP board vice president, also will be an honored guest, according to GSP Health.
“Generally in Enid there’s a shortage of pediatricians,” Starkey said, adding he has talked to hospitals and other health care providers about the issue in the past. “We’re all trying to bring more pediatrician providers in town.”
Starkey said the new GSP Pediatric and Family Care clinic will be able to house up to four medical providers. The clinic was born of a need for pediatricians in Northwest Oklahoma, he said, and GSP has contracted with Dr. Nick Hoffsommer, who is finishing his residency this coming year to help fill that need.
Hoffsommer — the son of current Enid GSP family medical provider Dr. Jeffrey Hoffsommer — will be ready to open his practice in July 2023, based on the current timeframe for completed construction of the clinic, estimated for May or June 2023, Starkey said.
Starkey said this will be a true second clinic for GSP, as its current location on South 30th, in Varsity Square shopping center, will continue to serve patients from those offices. The dental expansion will be constructed into existing space in the current clinic there.
Starkey said that work will start on the dental medicine expansion about a month after ground is broken for the new clinic.
The project is being partially funded with $617,590 in federal grant money, with the remainder — around $2.1 million — coming from GSP Health savings, Starkey said.
Other than Dr. Nick Hoffsommer, there has not been any decisions made on health care providers for the new location. The clinic is primarily being built for pediatric needs, but GSP opted to include family medicine as well, as provider decisions are made to staff the GSP clinics in Enid, Starkey said.
Great Salt Plains started with facilities in Cherokee in 2008 and expanded to Medford and Canton in addition to Enid.
“We are happy to be reinvesting our funds into the Enid community,” Starkey said, adding that Great Salt Plains Health is a 501c3 organization and welcomes contributions “so we can do more for our communities.”
Article by: Violet Hassler, Enid News & Eagle 7.12.22
Photo by: Billy Hefton