Cole County Health Department relocating to larger facility

Commissioners in Cole County approved the purchase of the Jefferson City Community Health Center building on Truman Boulevard for $1.5 million.

The building will be the new home for the Cole County Health Department.

The department has long been operating in the current 7,700 square feet facility on Industrial Drive.

It faces numerous space issues including small immunization rooms, a cramped Women, Infants and Children’s (WIC) area, tight office spaces and laboratory and limited conference room space, according to the department’s director Kristi Campbell.

The clinic serves about 6,000 patients a year and another 1,700 clients a month in its WIC program.

The new building is more than twice the size at about 17,000 square-foot. Campbell said the additional space will allow the department to be more client-oriented.

Presiding commissioner Sam Bushman said he hopes the county will be able to provide a wider range of services with the larger facility.

“We have a few things in mind, whether it’s offering more lactation consultant or more diabetes education because we know that’s a need in the community, or more services for family planning,” Campbell said.

The health department is set to move into the new facility in about a year.

The money to buy the new facility will come out of the county’s surplus, according to Bushman.