Four Rivers purchases old factory, plans to build

Four Rivers Community Health Center announced Monday the purchase of the vacant building at the corner of South Grand Avenue and West International Street with the intention to demolish the old building and build a new healthcare facility in its place.

The building, across from the old fairgrounds, previously housed International Shoe Company and most recently Hagale Industries. The building has been vacant and in disrepair for several years.

Four Rivers, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), has had a presence in Salem since 2020 and has been in its current location on the corner of South MacArthur and West Franklin for two years, according to the Monday press release.

“We’ve been honored by the community’s trust with their care and were able to expand our services offered in Salem to include dental and behavioral health in the last year,” said Hannah Vehrs, Four Rivers marketing director.

“The fact that we have outgrown our current location in Salem is such a blessing. We are committed to providing the best care to our patients and this community, and that means we need more space. The demolition is currently planned to start later this month, followed by architectural drawings to begin the construction process.”

Vehrs said the new building will help expand access to medical, dental and behavioral health care in Salem and surrounding communities.

As an FQHC, Four Rivers mission is to provide healthcare to anyone in the community, according to the release. Four Rivers, known for its medical primary care, dental and behavioral health care, has many services unknown to the majority of the community, Vehrs said.

She said there are also services such as assistance with health insurance applications – including Medicaid – transportation assistance, medication assistance and a sliding scale fee that is based on income. Four Rivers also has programs for diabetes management and medication assisted treatment, among other needs.

“We are so excited to be expanding to a larger building with more services in Dent County in the coming year,” said Stuart Gipson, Four Rivers CEO. “We specifically sought out the International Shoe location because we not only loved that the location is close to our current building in the middle of town, but we also were excited for the opportunity to bring life to a rundown property in Salem that once was home to so many jobs in the area.”

Four Rivers Community Health Center has been providing healthcare in Mid-Missouri since 2014, serving Phelps, Dent, Maries, Crawford and Pulaski counties. It has two clinics in Rolla and clinics in Salem and St. Robert.

Four Rivers celebrated the grand opening and ribbon cutting in September 2023 for its state-of-the-art facility at 165 Park Drive, St. Robert. The new medical and dental facility, constructed by Cahill Construction of Rolla, also houses a drive-thru clinic.

Some of the facts about FQHC’s mentioned by speakers at the St. Robert grand opening included:

• FQHC’s are the backbone of access to primary dental and medical care for Missourians living below 200% of poverty, and 95% of Four Rivers patients have incomes under 200% of poverty.

• FQHCs have a sliding fee scale for those who are uninsured or underinsured to ensure that patients can access affordable care.

• FQHC’s save the system money. By creating easy access to affordable primary care in the office as opposed to expensive ER or inpatient care. FQHC’s save both the patient as well as the state of Missouri money by treating uninsured and Medicaid patients early in the least expensive model of care.

The state of Missouri provided $2 million to build the facility in St. Robert. Four Rivers has not yet released information on funding, increased staffing nor the size of its new Salem facility.

For more information on FRCHC services visit www.fourrivers.org.