Corning Area Chamber of Commerce Member Spotlight – 1st Choice Healthcare
CEO: Brigitte McDonald
Phone Number: 870-857-3334
Email: bmcdonald@1stchoice-ar.org
Website: www.1stchoice-ar.org
Facebook: facebook.com/1stChoiceHealthcareInc | Instagram: instagram.com/1stchoiceheathcare | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/1st-choice-healthcare
Number of Years in Business: 26
What does your business provide to customers?
Primary health care
What are some features that make your business unique?
Our Community Health Center offers discounted services to un-insured as well as behavioral health, podiatry, pediatrics, care coordination, women’s health, and dental referrals.
Give a brief history of your business:
In 1991, a group of citizens of Clay County recognized a great need for primary care services and began to investigate the possibilities of bringing primary care services to the area.
The Arkansas Department of Health, Office of Primary Care, and Community Health Centers of Arkansas (the Primary Care Association in Arkansas) participated in a needs study of this area and it was designated as a high priority area in need of primary care in the State.
The Board of Directors, after a thorough investigation and review of the reports from the Arkansas Department of Health the Primary Care Association, made a decision that a Community Health Center was the most appropriate way to provide comprehensive primary health care to this service area.
A grant was written for funding and 1st Choice Healthcare was incorporated in 1992. The Corning clinic opened on March 7, 1994. An expansion site was approved and the Pocahontas Clinic was established and opened on March 1, 2000. On March 14, 2005, the Walnut Ridge site was established and moved to a brand new facility in April 2013.
In 2014, a fourth location was added in Ash Flat, Arkansas. This also brought the re-branding of Corning Area Healthcare, Inc. to 1st Choice Healthcare. Changing the corporate name was necessary because of the expansion of our health care services into new counties. In November 2015, a fifth location was added in Paragould, Arkansas. In July 2017 the sixth location was added in Salem, Arkansas.
We are proud to serve health care services in Clay, Randolph, Lawrence, Sharp, Fulton, Greene, and the surrounding counties.
What do you see for the future of your business?
We see the growth of our Telehealth program.
