UPDATE: Emergency Clinic in Ave Maria Closed
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- Published on Thursday, 25 July 2013 13:40
The EPN Urgent Care clinic in Ave Maria has closed, leaving residents with no home-town option for now for urgent medical needs.
Claire Jones, a spokesperson for TeamHealth, which acquired EPN in 2010, said the Ave Maria clinic was forced to close when Ave Maria Development declined to renew its lease. She said Ave Maria Development gave no reason for its decision.
Calls to Cee Cee Marinelli at Ave Maria Development were not returned.
News of the clinic's closing began to filter out Monday, after a resident who visited the clinic in the town center was told was told by staff that the clinic had "closed for good." EPN operates another clinic in Naples, on Davis Blvd. -- about 50 minutes away from Ave Maria -- and an EPN staff member there said the company had "consolidated" its operations at that location.
EPN opened in 2008 and was taken over in 2010 by TeamHealth, a national operator of healthcare management organizations.The closing of EPN comes amid shifting medical optionis in Ave Maria.
Ave Maria University is planning to open its own clinic this fall in association with the Physicians Regional healthcare group to serve students, staff and faculty, said AMU Vice President of Student Affairs Bill Kirk. Campus clinics are commonplace, he said, and parents expect it. That clinic will not be open to residents or the general public, he said.
The closest options for residents seeking urgent or general medical care now are either clinics in Immokalee or the Physicians Regional medical practice in Pebblebrooke, about a half-hour away at Immokalee Rd. and Collier Blvd.
Florida Coastal Dermatology will begin providing services Aug. 1, working out of space in the Ave Maria Dental offices.
[Article updated Thursday afternoon and Friday morning to provide more specific information on AMU clinic and comment from Claire Jones.]