PATHS expansion could increase health care, economy in Southside

CHATHAM (WSLS 10) - In about a year and a half, Piedmont Access To Health Services CEO Kay Crane hopes to be out of the organization's 8,000 square-foot building at the corner of Main Street and Court Place and in the roughly 19,000 square-foot building down the block.

"We're very excited. We began looking for space probably a year ago when we realized that we couldn't even add another provider," Crane explained.

But, more space and another provider are not the only things Crane wants to add to the Chatham office.

"I really want to do, for that Chatham area, a true women's health center," said Crane. "Also, I wanted to put a small dental clinic there. We know that a lot of children, especially our Medicaid and low-income adults, don't have access to dental care."

On top of that, she would also like to open a small pharmacy in the building to allow patients to purchase their medication at the reduced price PATHS can offer through the organization's access to 340B drug pricing.

Since 2004 she said the number of patients has steadily increased, which she believes is a result of more people having insurance and a growing need for a low-cost health care option in the area because of the high rate of chronic diseases resulting from people not seeking treatment in the past.

"When we began seeing patients in 2004, our uninsured rate was 80 percent. Now, we have it down to 25 percent," Crane pointed out.

She anticipates hiring 64 employees over the next three years in order to keep up with the anticipated increasing number of patients.

For businesses along Main Street, the expansion provides hope for an economic boost.

"That can only be beneficial for all the businesses in town. Not just for our traffic here at Simpson Funeral Museum, but for restaurants and the other businesses," said Simpson Funeral Museum co-owner Scott Simpson.

"It'll be excellent getting PATHS in here because it'll bring a lot of people on this end of town," said J.W. Thomasson, who owns Chatham Furniture Co., which is right next to the building PATHS plans to move to.

PATHS will close on the new building in February, with renovations hopefully beginning in the summer and taking about nine months to complete.

Renovations are expected to cost about $1.5 million.