SAME-DAY AMBULATORY SURGICAL TREATMENT CENTER OPENS AT CAIRO

CAIRO, Ill. -- The Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Center opened recently in the Cairo Mega-clinic.

The same-day surgery center will hold its grand opening Nov. 18 at 10 a.m.

"We have performed a few surgical procedures at the new center," said Fred Bernstein, executive director of Community Health Services Inc. of Cairo, which operates the 2-year-old mega-clinic, near the intersection of Interstate 57 & Route 3.

"We want the public to have an opportunity to see our new surgery facilities," Bernstein said.

The surgical clinic occupies space in the 20,000-square-foot mega-clinic, which opened in October 1992.

Dr. Gemo Wong, a general surgeon, is medical director of the mega-clinic.

Wong and others help in the new surgical center "on a basis of need," Bernstein said. Four full-time doctors are on the mega-clinic staff, with two part-time doctors.

"We also have four physician-assistants, two of them nurse practitioners," Bernstein said.

In its two years, the clinic has been a plus to the area, Bernstein said.

"It has helped us keep some physicians and has helped in recruiting of other medical specialists," he added.

It has also helped take up the slack created when St. Mary's Hospital closed in 1986, leaving the area with no health-care facility.

Health Services, which was founded in 1974 and became a separate entity in 1980, contracted with the state to keep the hospital's emergency room open, but funds dried up and the service was closed in 1988.

Between 1988 and the opening of the clinic in 1992, residents of Alexander and Pulaski counties had to visit hospitals in Cape Girardeau, Sikeston, Anna and Carbondale for emergency care.

The mega-clinic was on the planning board for a number of years, but construction was delayed on the $1.5 million facility until 1991.

Prior to the 1992 opening, Community Health Services was housed on the top four floors of the U.S. Post Office Building in Cairo, which was difficult for many patients.

The clinic, on a five-acre plot, is a one-level facility, which meets all the rules, regulations and codes for the handicapped, Bernstein said.