Palo Pinto General Hospital and Emergency Services District No. 1 team up to save lives at Possum Kingdom Lake Story by Steve Nussbaum | Photo by Erika Carter
Sometimes it seems as though large organizations and government entities can take forever to accomplish a common goal.
Thankfully, this was not the case when the Possum Kingdom Lake Association (PKLA) approached Palo Pinto General Hospital (PPGH) about building a full-service clinic at Possum Kingdom.
The board members of Palo Pinto Emergency Service District No. 1 (ESD1), the organization that oversees fire and emergency services to the lake area of the county, knew they needed to find a new home for ambulance care. They also felt it was time to establish better health care options for both the Graford area of the county and Possum Kingdom Lake.
To accomplish this, they approached Ross Korkmas, the hospital’s chief executive officer, with the idea of building a full-service clinic at PK. Even during these times of shrinking rural health care, Korkmas thought it was a great idea.
Early on, the board members asked Korkmas where he would build the clinic. When they pulled out a lake area map, Korkmas put his finger on the exact location ESD1 was considering for its new facility. The location is just behind Graham Savings at the entrance on Highway 2353.
The talks moved quickly from that point, and in a matter of months the land was acquired and plans were in place to build a full-service family health clinic and new home for ESD1. The land was purchased from Mike Patterson, and the building was named after Carolyn and Monty Land and Mike Patterson for their work on the divestiture of the land around the lake several years ago from the Brazos River Authority.
For a relatively low price of about $35,000, a helipad was added to the site for emergency care flight service to larger area hospitals.
The Land Patterson Center which houses Emergency Services District No. 1 and Possum Kingdom Family Health is a great example of how the hospital, the county and concerned citizens all worked together to build a life-saving facility in a short amount of time.
Korkmas lives at Possum Kingdom Lake with his wife, Kelly, and their two daughters. Korkmas has been in hospital administration at several different hospitals in both large and small communities.
Korkmas said the diverse living options in the area make attracting medical talent easy. The area offers many different lifestyle choices, he said, from the lake life, country and ranch living, a small-town life, or going further east to get a more urban experience.
Possum Kingdom Family Health is staffed by local medical professionals. Joshua West, the local nurse practitioner, became a nurse in 2008 and became certified as a nurse practitioner in 2019. He lives in Graham with his wife, Trina, who also is a registered nurse. They have been married for 24 years and have two daughters, ages 19 and 22.
West acquired his extensive experience in emergency rooms and surgical settings while working in Graham. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, he began working at an urgent care clinic in Wichita Falls. When he got word of the new clinic opening at Possum Kingdom, he said he jumped at the chance.
The entire staff is from the area and has been recruited to serve the Possum Kingdom Lake community. One of those staffers is Madonna Cortez, a local nurse who lives at PK with her family. Another staff member is Shaton Atchison, who serves as the clinic’s receptionist. Atchison lives outside of Graham and said she is thrilled with her new position at the clinic.
The Land-Patterson Family Clinic opened just after Thanksgiving, and the response to its services offered has been very well received. The clinic is not just a place to be seen for immediate care, but a full-service family clinic, although patients who need radiology treatment still have to go to the hospital’s urgent care unit in Mineral Wells.
One of the key advantages of the new clinic is that area patients can transfer their primary care to the new clinic, which could save them time and money.
The clinic’s EMT services, helipad and family clinics are all housed in one facility, which is a win for all involved, and it’s designed for expansion as the area grows.
The clinic is a great new asset to the Possum Kingdom Lake area, and people in the area are taking advantages of its services. In December, the first full month of operation, the clinic served 77 patients. In January it served 88 patients, and in February the clinic saw 58 patients. At the time this article was written, the clinic had care-flighted 4 people to other facilities for emergency care.
Possum Kingdom Family Health is a walk-in, full-service family clinic.
Open Tuesday-Saturday
8 a.m.-5 p.m. (closed noon-1 p.m. for lunch)
55 South FM 2353
Graford, TX 76449
(940) 664-2169
