PANAMA CITY — Gulf Coast State College and PanCare Health have joined forces to create a clinic at the college, officially opening its doors Tuesday.

The clinic, located in the Rosenwald building in the college’s Panama City location, has four exam rooms, a procedure room and a basic pharmacy. It will provide services to students and the public, with walk-in appointments available. 

It aims to provide common services and will see patients regardless of insurance status, using a sliding pay scale for those without insurance.

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GCSC and PanCare Health have partnered in the past on projects. The plan for the clinic was pitched by college President John Holdnak during the pandemic.

"When the pandemic started picking up and they had a test that was available, I started trying to think of ways that we can both be of service to our community and to the students and the employees that work here," Holdnak said. "I happen to know Robert Thompson, who's the COO of PanCare, and I asked him what the chances were that the college could develop some sort of a relationship and maybe they could do some testing on campus when we needed it, but they could also use space just to do testing when anybody else needed it."

PanCare officials came out to the college to lay out their requirements for the testing area, with Holdnak immediately having a room in mind. Telling them to adjust their expectations, Holdnak led them to a large storage. 

"When Robert and (PanCare CEO Mike Hill) went into the room, I could see their eyes kind of light up and they were seeing what it could be, not what was there," Holdnak said. "We talked a little bit more and then made arrangements. We did a little bit of a remodel and cleanup and hung a new ceiling grid and painted the walls and put new flooring in and gave them a place where they could do testing."

Once vaccines started rolling out, and the testing location was no longer needed, Holdnak decided to pitch his idea of turning the room into a clinic. 

GCSC officials have sought solutions for years on how to provide accessible medical care on campus. Holdnak said it's been a goal of his for more than 20 years to help students experiencing problems with insurance and access to medical attention. 

"During my career at the college, and a lot of different kinds of jobs, I would often run into students that had no medical insurance, for a variety of reasons ... they weren't covered under their parents' insurance anymore, didn't have parents, didn't have a job, some of them didn't have a home," Holdnak said. "Just about any story you could imagine, I've heard over the years."

The clinic will provide jobs and opportunities. Three full-time employees will be onsite: a medical practitioner, nurse and receptionist. Additional staff members are expected to be hired in the future. 

Students also will be able to do their clinical rotations at the clinic.

"This will be a site for nursing, but potentially, maybe our respiratory therapy assistants might be able to do some time here," Holdnak said. "And we're even talking about partnering with PanCare on some other opportunities to both provide a clinical rotation for students and use some of our other facilities."

Seeing how the pandemic affected students and employees seeking treatment for sickness, Holdnak said he sees the clinic as a step in the right direction.

"Hopefully, this will help our students and our employees as well because it's not going to be a monumental effort. You're not going to have to take off half a day to run to the doctor's office," Holdnak said. "You can literally make an appointment and then walk over from your office and then walk back in exactly the time that you'd be in an examining room."

Holdnak said, over time, he hopes the clinic's services and testing can be expanded.

After watching his goal go from a random storage room to a functioning clinic, he said he is proud. 

"I think it's going to be a fantastic facility. It's open and bright and they didn't have any artwork up yet, but it was still cheery," Holdnak said. "I mean you walked in and it wasn't a dreary place. ... It looks like a very, very modern medical facility."