County begins construction of health clinic

Maricopa will soon have a freestanding county health clinic that’s open five or six days a week instead of a mobile clinic in town two days a week.

Construction has begun on a 14,000-square-foot facility on Smith-Enke Road in front of the Maricopa Public Library. Pinal County Communications Director Heather Murphy said the clinic will offer immunizations, nutritional services, women’s health, newborn and infant wellness checks and family planning.

As with the mobile clinic, residents will be able to obtain Women, Infants and Children services at the new facility. The WIC program assists children from infancy to the age of five, pregnant women, breastfeeding women until the infant’s first birthday and postpartum women with babies up to 6 months of age. 

Nutritional education, supplemental foods, and referrals to other social services and health care will be provided. Immunizations will be available to children 18 years and under. The clinic will not offer surgical services, and residents will be advised to use an urgent care facility in case of medical emergency.

The clinic is expected to be finished by the end of the year. Danson Construction is the general contractor for the project. The company is now initial phases of excavating for the building’s foundation and installing underground utilities.

Murphy said depending on the community’s needs, the clinic will be open five or six days a week and will be staffed accordingly. Operating hours for the clinic have not been determined. Currently, the county has a mobile health clinic that visits Maricopa every Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Comet Express Park & Ride lot at John Wayne Parkway and Honeycutt Road.

For more information, call the Pinal County Division of Public Health at 520-866-7358 or toll-free at 866-960-0633.