Family medicine clinic opens in Keota

KEOTA — Jackie Morgan has a solid medical background, working as a nurse practitioner for primary care clinics and urgent care floors in Iowa, where she’s lived for 15 years. In that time, she says she’s become “addicted to the chaos.”

“It is a high to help other people,” Morgan said. “I don’t know that there is anything more gratifying than helping another person … and I love a challenge, I like to be busy.”

About a month ago, Morgan took on a new challenge: opening up a clinic of her own.

The move brought a number of upsides: independent medical professionals have more control over their caseloads than they’d get working for larger hospitals and clinics. Local ownership also comes with a level of personality behind the practice, ideal for a small Iowa town. The provider was also pleased with the available location downtown, as well as the support already expressed by community members.

It has also carried countless causes for a headache. Morgan said business ownership represented a new kind of “chaos,” one she’s less well-versed in than anything found in an ICU.

The process of opening involved an extensive remodel of the building once known as the Central Cafe, at the heart of town where Broadway and Fulton Street intersect. It’s also come with all the usual decision-making for an upstart business — things like buying supplies, dealing with insurance, setting up software and securing various permits.

“There seemed to be a hiccup at every corner. One small task that you thought would take five minutes might take an hour,” Morgan said. “I have honestly likened it to more difficult than having a child, more difficult than buying a house, more difficult than completing nurse practitioner school. There’s so much to learn, so many things you really do not have an idea that you need to do, that you do need to do, and you learn them on the fly.”

Up and running at last, the new clinic — Keota Family Practice — opened its doors May 15. And while various lingering business management decisions certainly keep Morgan busy, she said she was excited to begin offering local health care to patients.

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Morgan is not a doctor, but a nurse practitioner. While the title doesn’t involve a PhD, it does give her the credentials to perform virtually any of the services one might routinely see their physician for.

The list includes any aspect of primary care, visits for men’s and women’s health issues, checkups spurred by acute illnesses, routine vaccinations, physicals, even minor skin procedures. The clinic does not, however, offer surgical services, nor can it perform any sort of imaging like X-rays.

The broad array on offer makes Morgan’s business more than just a clinic, but an oasis of health care not often available in small towns like Keota, with a population of just under 900, according to the 2020 Census.

“The town needs somebody here, locally, to be able to come to, and not have to go to Iowa City or to another town,” said Crystal Brown, the Keota practice’s receptionist and a registered nurse. “I’d much rather go somewhere in town, rather than somewhere else, especially with kids.”

Although opening the clinic fulfills a longtime dream of Morgan’s, it’s also a substantial risk. While Iowa’s shortage of rural health care is a complicated issue, its outcome is easy to see: countless small-town providers have shuttered in recent decades, saying they could no longer afford to do business on a local scale.

Keota’s newest clinician, however, said she was confident in her office’s future, as it slowly builds its patient load up from zero.

“I’m in it for the long haul,” Morgan said, when asked about the clinic’s long-term sustainability. “It’s way too early for me to even consider being worried for something like that … I think there’s always a need for health care, preventive medicine is something we’re always going to need, (so) my goal is to slowly get established, and be here until I retire.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com