Tuesday, August 23, 2016 11:45 am

Plans were unveiled for the new Cannon County Health Department building during celebration for National Health Center Week.

The new structure will be built on property adjoining Saint Thomas Stones River Hospital with construction scheduled to begin next spring with a fall completion date.

"It will have much more usable space," said Andrea Fox, Cannon County Health Director. "The floor plan is so much better."

The new health department will feature five clinic rooms, a large lab, two dental treatment rooms, conference room and offices, along with space for an additional clerk.

"The layout will be so much better," Fox said. "Our current building is divided up in a way it's just not functional."

Cannon County is part of the Upper Cumberland Primary Care Project that provides services for more than 25,000 people.

"We are currently 130 percent of our goals," she said, and the addition will help even more in reduction of unnecessary hospitalizations and unnecessary visits to the emergency room all white maintaining patient satisfaction levels and reducing infant mortality rates.

"For almost 30 years, community health centers in the Upper Cumberland have improved access to care," Fox said. "Our health centers provide full service adult and pediatric primary care as well as preventative health services to anyone with private insurance, TennCare or Medicare, as well as those without insurance.

To learn more about the services offered by the health center, call 615-563-4243.