About 6 weeks ago I purchased the vacant dental office in Eureka. Most of you know which one it is. The... well... dated white building on north main (next to Casey's). I bought this building because the bank was being pressured to liquidate the contents, and I thought that it would have been a terrible shame for the community to lose that location for a dental office.
Now to give a little insight to where I'm at right now professionally, and what my future plans are. I am currently working full time at Flint Hills Community Health Center in Emporia. I am also associating in my spare time at Burlington Dental Center with Dr. Larry Hargreaves in (you guessed it) Burlington. So between my 40-60 hour workweeks, my spare time is quite scarce as you can probably imagine. I am blessed to have wonderful staff and facilities at both of these locations.
You might be wondering what this means for Eureka? Well, as a young doctor, I have a hefty amount of debt from student loans alone (~$250K). By working at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) like Flint Hills, I am eligible for student loan repayment. I have taken this loan repayment, and by doing so, I have obligated myself to 2 years at a health clinic or Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA). Eureka does qualify as a HPSA, but since I will be opening my own private practice, there are much more regulations that I have to go through in order for the Eureka site to qualify.
To summarize, it looks like it will be a while until I'm down in Eureka. If I remain in Emporia until the end of my loan repayment contract, I wouldn't be down in Eureka until September of 2013. I am looking into what it would take for Eureka to become an approved site sooner. But when dealing with the government, it's safer to shoot long when estimating time schedules.
The good news is that I do own the building, which is a major stepping stone. Over the next several months I will be traveling down there making plans for the building and updating it. I want to offer the area something that they might not be used to. And what I mean by that is new technologies and amenities of a more modern office. Down the line I would love to build a new office on that lot, as the current office doesn't have the best layout, flow, or space for expansion. It is, however, a great starting point to offering the area high quality care with the convenience of being local.
I urge folks NOT to hold off on getting care until I'm down there. Often times in dentistry, and many other areas of life for that matter, more conservative and less expensive treatment is available when a problem is found early enough. Car maintenance isn't too expensive until you drive 25,000 miles without changing the oil and ignoring the knocking sound coming from under the hood.
Well that's it for now folks. I hope this helps clear the air and answers some questions you might have had. Take care and God bless!
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