FAIRHOPE – A new USA Health medical office facility will be built on an eight-acre site at the corner of Alabama 104 and Alabama 181 east of Fairhope, health system officials said Tuesday.
The center will include offices for primary and specialty care professionals as well as imaging technologies. USA Health has also filed a Certificate of Need application with the state to build an ambulatory surgical center at the site. The facility will have 80,000 feet of space in three buildings, according to plans announced Tuesday
Louis and Melinda Mapp of Point Clear donated the land, valued at about $2 million to the University of South Alabama
“As an academic health system, USA Health brings unique subspecialty care to our region,” Louis Mapp said. “Melinda and I are thankful we are in a position to help Baldwin County residents gain access to this level of expertise in a convenient and easily accessible manner.”
Other plans include multiple water features, walking paths and outdoor educational and gathering areas. The facility will have an indoor educational component that patients can use with nutritional and prevention strategies related to wellness. The space also will be available for USA Health to carry out its academic healthcare mission by serving as a location to educate future and current healthcare providers.
Troy Waldrop, USA president, said the facility will be a major asset for the community and health system.
“We cannot thank the Mapp family enough for this tremendous gift,” Waldrop said. “Their commitment to our community and their support of our health system is unwavering.”
John Marymont, USA vice president for medical affairs and dean of the USA College of Medicine, said the donation will allow the system to extend new academic health services to Baldwin County.
“On this location we will be able to bring together the delivery of specialized healthcare and the training of the next generation of physicians on a campus that also addresses wellness, nutrition and prevention,” Marymont said.
Owen Bailey, chief executive officer of USA Health, said the area needs more convenient access to academic health care.
“This is an opportunity for us to bring a number of specialty care providers to a centrally located facility that enables the people of Baldwin County to stay close to their homes and have their health care needs met,” Bailey said. “It is only fitting that a special campus like this be situated on property that has been donated by Louis and Melinda Mapp,” Bailey said. “For many years they have continually focused on ways to improve the lives of people in our region.”
The Mapps also donated more than $1 million to establish an endowment to offset the costs of items within the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Children’s & Women’s Hospital in 2018. Louis Mapp is a consistent volunteer, rocking some of the region’s smallest babies.
The Mapps also donated money in 2012 to establish the Mapp Child and Family Life Program at Children’s & Women’s Hospital. This program ensures that children and teens are able to have their emotional and educational needs met while hospitalized. Also, Louis Mapp serves as a volunteer at both University Hospital and Children’s & Women’s Hospital.
“For years Louis and Melinda have been helping USA Health meet the needs of some of our most vulnerable patients,” Margaret Sullivan, vice president for development at USA, said. “They continually look for opportunities where they can help make others’ lives better. The gift of this land, enabling USA Health to expand its services in Baldwin County, is another example of their generosity and impact.”
USA Health also provides clinical care at the Mitchell Cancer Institute Kilborn Clinic and the USA Health Physicians Group Eastern Shore in Fairhope, and USA Health Endocrine and Diabetes in Daphne. USA’s health-related educational and training programs in Baldwin County include the partnership with Orange Beach in which second-year emergency medicine residents accompany Orange Beach emergency medical service units on medical calls, and the USA College of Nursing program in Fairhope.
