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HomeNewsArchivesFrederiksted Health Center Closes for Four to Five Months

Frederiksted Health Center Closes for Four to Five Months

April 21, 2008 — The Frederiksted Health Center closed Monday for mold remediation.
Work on the center, also known as the Ingeborg Nesbitt Clinic, is expected to take four to five months. Prescriptions and mental health counseling will still be available from the center's administrative offices, located across the street from the main building.
Starting May 5, the center's services will be provided out of the Herbert Grigg Home for the Aged in Kingshill. There will be a two-week pause in the center's other services. Clients may go to the Charles Harwood Medical Complex.
"There is a doctor here who can essentially perform a triage and arrange treatment if there is an emergency," said Masserae Sprauve-Webster, the center's executive director.
The lag between the closure and the reopening at the Grigg Home is so the center can pack up to move. The company Environmental Concepts is making sure chairs, files and equipment are decontaminated before moving to avoid contaminating the Grigg Home, Sprauve-Webster said.
"Part of the problem, apparently, is that running the single air-conditioning unit continuously allows moisture to build up," she said. So installing a second unit to take some of the strain off is part of the work being done.
The center is the latest in a series of government buildings to undergo mold remediation. Dental services resumed at Charles Harwood in December after being curtailed for a number of months because of mold issues. (See "Dental Clinic Operations Still Limited as Mold Cleanup Proceeds.")
The work on the center and similar issues at the Office of Financial Programs in Frederiksted were the subject of a recent senate hearing, as well. (See "Air-Quality Issues in Government Building Dominate Senate Committee Hearing.")
The center is a private nonprofit, but the building is owned by the Department of Health, which actually contracted the work being done, Sprauve-Webster said. The Public Finance Authority has allocated approximately $95,000 for the work, she said, directing more detailed questions to the Health Department.
Calls to the Health Department for more information were not returned Monday.
The Grigg Home is about a 15-minute drive from the Frederiksted center. Transportation of some form will be provided, but details are being worked out, Sprauve-Webster said.
Clients can call 772-1992 or stop by the administrative offices across the street from the center for more information. Prenatal patients and those wanting to refill prescriptions should call 772-0260.
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