acomadmin

DOTHAN, Ala. – May 9, 2019 – Today, representatives from the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine (ACOM), City of Dothan and Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting for the new paved pedestrian trail along east Highway 84. The trail, which connects the ACOM campus to the Ross Clark Circle, marks a significant milestone in the future development of the East 84 corridor.

“It’s one thing to envision what things can look like and be like. It’s another thing to bring them to fruition. It’s a great day to see part of a plan that is bringing and connecting downtown Dothan to 84 East. This is just one small piece of our whole plan,” said Mayor Mark Saliba.

Area leaders have been evaluating ways to enhance the east Highway 84 corridor for several years. Discussions to create a paved trail on the east side of Dothan began in 2016, with the goal of creating a designated walkway and biking path for residents. Dr. Craig Lenz, ACOM Dean, was instrumental in these discussions, as he underscored the need for a safer and healthier transportation alternative for medical students and others along the highway.

“The creation of this trail promotes the importance of wellness,” said Dr. Lenz. “There are so many cities that have grown up around traffic and people getting in cars rather than walking and biking to their destinations. That is something we have tried to instill in our medical community is the sense of wellness and how people can enjoy life more by being outside.”

In 2018, the City of Dothan secured a Transportation Alternatives Program grant from the Alabama Department of Transportation and provided matching funds to develop a shared pedestrian and biking trail along East Highway 84. The City of Dothan partnered with engineering firm Poly, Inc. to oversee the project and MidSouth Paving as contractor. Construction on the paved trail began in mid-2018 and was completed this spring. The trail starts near the ACOM campus on Cat Way and continues along Highway 84 toward the Ross Clark Circle. The opening of this trail demonstrates Dothan’s continued commitment to health and wellness initiatives across the area.

DOTHAN, Ala. – February 6, 2019 – The Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine (ACOM) plans to open a new rural health primary care clinic in Ashford, Ala., within the year. The new clinic, which will be located approximately seven miles from the campus and adjacent to the existing Southeast Health FirstMed facility, will help increase access to primary care for citizens and would focus on education of ACOM students within a nurturing, patient-centered environment. Under the umbrella of Southeast Health, the existing FirstMed clinic will remain open, seeing patients and providing uninterrupted health care services, until the transition to ACOM can be successfully completed.

ACOM, the academic division of Southeast Health, has been working with the City of Ashford for several months to formalize a plan to open the new clinic. The college, in partnership with Ashford leaders, recognized the need to increase health care options in the rural community and identified an opportunity to expand the health care coverage provided by an existing Southeast Health family practice clinic. On Monday, the Ashford City Council voted unanimously to provide an additional plot of land to the college, paving the way to build a separate, brand-new, 4,000-square-foot facility. This new clinic will be state-of-the-art, providing increased capacity and access to care for patients.

“This clinic will be a win-win for everyone – for Ashford, for ACOM and for Southeast Health,” said Craig J. Lenz, Sr., DO, Dean of ACOM. “We are grateful to the City of Ashford for their support of this project that will provide increased patient care to the community and exciting training opportunities for our medical students.”

The new clinic will serve as an ideal environment to include first- and second-year ACOM students in patient care in a real-world setting, prior to entering their clinical rotations during the third and fourth years of medical school. Lenz says that this experience will further highlight the great opportunities for medical education in the Wiregrass and foster a greater understanding of the patients this area serves.