TERLINGUA — Residents of South Brewster County are one step closer to reliable, five-day-a-week healthcare as of Monday, when the new Bravo Health Clinic building was delivered to Study Butte. Crews are now hard at work putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Utilities should be ready to go by the middle of April, with official updates and grand opening to be announced through the clinic’s new Facebook page.
Terlingua has been without a consistent clinic for decades. Progress was made in 2022 when the Big Bend Regional Hospital District (BBRHD) was awarded a large grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that went, in part, to starting up a clinic service one day a week.
In January, the BBRHD signed a contract with Hamilton Health Box, a company known in the industry for its innovative “microclinics” that blend telemedicine and community healthcare. Brewster County Commissioners voted in favor of supporting the clinic a few weeks later, and the gears were set in motion for Monday’s big shipment.
There was a brief delay after the building was misdelivered to the parking lot at the Boathouse Bar and Bungalows in the Ghost Town on Ivey Road — but the welcoming committee was able to correct the understandable mistake and direct the truck building’s new home on Rex Ivey Road, down the street from the post office and the Chili Pepper Café.
Nurse Ashley Grover will be the human face of the new hybrid clinic. With a year of serving the community under her belt, she’s ready to dive in — but cautioned that there are still some unknowns, and that exact hours and services will shift in the clinic’s early days to figure out how to best serve locals. “I think it’s going to be amazing for Terlingua,” she said.