By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



A new diagnostic medical facility should be open in Fultondale within 90 days.

Earlier this week, officials with Norwood Clinic signed a lease on the old Winn-Dixie building, located near the intersection of U.S. 31 and Walker Chapel Road.

The office will feature X-Ray, MRI, CT scan, mammogram and ultrasound capabilities. Other Norwood entities, including a pharmacy, may also open near the facility at a future date.

Joan Ballard, chief administrative officer for Norwood Clinic, Inc., said the project has been months in the making and will bring a needed service to north Jefferson County residents.

“Our patient base is primarily from north Jefferson County and we want to meet our patients where they are,” she said. “We’re going to have specialists rotating through the clinic on a daily basis, so patients won’t have to come to a hospital to see a specialist.”

Norwood Clinic moved physicians’ offices to Brookwood Hospital in November after the closing of Carraway Medical Center. The clinic has primary care offices in Gardendale, Warrior, Tarrant and Fultodnale.

Dr. Doug Alford, who works at the Norwood Clinic of Fultondale, said the new diagnostic facility will provide more convenience for his patients who may need medical tests, because he can simply send them across the parking lot.

“The fact that specialists will be coming out to my patients, instead of them having to go downtown to them, is a huge plus,” he said.

Fultondale Mayor Jim Lowery said the opening of the facility serves two purposes: a new tenant for a vacant building and the possibility of increased medical interest in his city.

He said the relationship between his city and Norwood Clinic has been a fruitful one. He said once the old Winn-Dixie building is renovated, he predicts it will be a first-class facility.

“For them to open this in Fultondale is really a big thing for us,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a facility that will serve the citizens of the region for a long time.”