The Brookhaven hospital’s family clinic is moving to a newlocation in the center of town with more rooms and more access forpatients.

King’s Daughters Medical Center’s Quick Care Medical Clinic willclose at its current location near the hospital Thursday afternoonand reopen Monday at 8 a.m. in a new location at 950 BrookwayBoulevard, on the hill below Wal-Mart and beside Super D. Thefacility’s name will change to King’s Daughters Medical Clinic, andits ability to treat patients will change, too, said clinic managerLarry Mills.

“We’re an extension of the hospital out there. We’re afree-standing clinic with all the resources of the hospital,” hesaid.

Mills said the new clinic would have 13 examination rooms, anincrease over the current clinic’s capacity of nine rooms. Theextra space is expected to bring in extra patients, and anothernurse practitioner has been hired to staff the clinic, he said.

The new clinic will also feature a self-contained radiology unit- something the previous clinic didn’t have. Hospitaladministrators are also looking to recruit a fourth physician tothe clinic by 2012.

The clinic will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday throughFriday, and from 8 a.m. until noon on Saturdays. The clinic will beclosed on Sundays … for now.

“We’re going to look at the possibility of expanding thosehours,” Mills said. “We’ll look and see what the community’s needsare.”

KDMC Chief Executive Officer Alvin Hoover said the cliniccurrently treats about 1,000 patients per month, but he’s expectingthat number to double during the first year in the new location.It’s a move hospital chiefs have long awaited, with planningbeginning last January and construction beginning last July.

“We think the location over there will be convenient for thepeople who live in Brookhaven and Lincoln County, and anyonevisiting this way,” Hoover said. “There’s a shortage of primarycare providers in Lincoln County. We want to make that moreaccessible.”