Christus Family clinic continues growth, touts new facility

By Rick Kennedy, managing editor
Now into a fourth successful year of service in Hope, the CHRISTUS Family Medicine Clinic in Hope celebrated a ground-breaking and Chamber ribbon-cutting with an estimated crowd of 60 standing on Julia Drive in front of the property Tuesday morning. The new family medicine clinic will be built at the southwest corner of Peck Circle and Julia Drive.
Top CHRISTUS officials from Texarkana, including Jason Rounds, the recently named President of CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System, were present. Rounds said, “Today marks another step in our continued commitment to family healthcare in Hope, Arkansas. Today, we have a ground-breaking, but this has been in the planning stages for while; this has been a long time coming.”
Dr. William Brent Bennett, new incoming Dr. Alyson Hanson, and Family Nurse Practitioner Devin Shepard, MSN, RN, FNP-C, were all on hand for Tuesday’s ground-breaking, donning colorful purple hard-hats, for the ceremony.
Bennett said, “I couldn’t do any of this without my staff; they do a good job; they do a good in providing good customer service. They have been a large part of the success we’ve had here, and we all try to provide the best care we can.”
Bennett joked earlier in the ceremony, “We needed a new building for our new doctor,” referring to Hanson, who will be joining Bennett in the family practice later in 2019 as she finishes up her residency commitments.
For Hanson, joining Bennett is a bit of a homecoming; formerly known as Alyson Price, she is a graduate of Spring Hill High School, and she joins fellow 2007 Spring Hill graduate, Shepard, who has been with Bennett over a year now.
The new facility is expected to go up quickly, and be opened for business by the end of 2019.
Currently, Bennett, Shepard and the clinic’s staff are located at 100 E. 20th Street, Suite D. CHRISTUS Trinity Family Clinic as it is officially called offers primary care and preventive medicine for all ages, sick and well office visits, and lab services along with access to a network of CHRISTUS Trinity Clinic specialists to coordinate patient care. The clinic’s staff can be reached at 870-722-1020.