The Salem Chamber of Commerce hosted a luncheon Tuesday, Sept. 9, during which Stuart Gipson, CEO of Four Rivers, presented details about the organization’s upcoming opening of its new facility in Salem. The new facility is anticipating a tentative opening date within the first week of October 2025, located on Grand Street at the former shoe factory building.
The former shoe factory building was purchased by Four Rivers about two years ago, shared Gipson, to help rehabilitate an existing structure within the Salem community. The new facility will allow Four Rivers to bring in more providers, including dental and medical providers.
Four Rivers Community Health Center is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) serving five counties in south-central Missouri. It began operations in the Rolla area in 2014. There are four clinics within the five county service area of Four Rivers, including facilities in Phelps, Dent, Crawford, and Pulaski County. The organization’s original name, Your Community Health Center, changed in 2022 to Four Rivers, aiming to better reflect its service area and to avoid confusion with other facilities.
Four Rivers has grown and expanded over the last five years, explained Gipson. In 2020, there were 46 total employees—now, there are 200. In 2024, Four Rivers was able to see a total of 23,000 new patients from all of its service areas.
Four Rivers specializes in primary medical, dental, and behavioral health services. The organization offers a sliding fee discount scale based on income to both uninsured patients and those with high-deductible insurance plans. Gipson noted that Four Rivers wants to take care of the most challenging patients to reach—those that may be uninsured, have limited health literacy, or struggle with social determinants of health.
“I think the goal as a community is to make sure every person in our community has access to a primary care provider that they can see regularly, a dental provider that they're seeing at least once a year, and then mental health services if they need mental health services,” said Gipson, on the mission of Four Rivers.
Gipson also emphasized a major focus of the organization is catching health problems early to ensure early intervention and prevention, especially in younger children.
“We’re working with all kinds of populations to try and engage them and try and get them into care at an early age, early before a disease develops into something that’s serious and can be really harmful,” shared Gipson.
Four Rivers employs a number of community health workers who address social determinants of health—factors that research indicates account for approximately 60% of patient health outcomes, said Gipson. These workers help patients identify solutions to challenges such as transportation, medication access, housing issues, and basic needs. Many of these community health workers are also able to assist individuals in navigating Medicaid applications, for all individuals regardless of being a patient of Four Rivers.
The organization also operates a custom-built dental bus that provides comprehensive dental care at schools throughout Salem, surrounding Dent County schools, and schools in Phelps and Crawford.
Four Rivers’ new facility in Salem hopes to host a ribbon cutting in October 2025.
