Benjamins For Dr. Benjamin

Bayou La Batre Spencer Collier Doctor Regina Benjamin has been approved for 2.2 million in grant money to finish building the Bayou Clinic.

by Tiffany Craig

Published: Tue, August 25, 2009 - 5:42 pm CST Last Updated: Tue, August 25, 2009 - 5:44 pm CST

Doctor Regina Benjamin is about to get a lot of "benjamins" to finish building the new Bayou Clinic.

The Bayou La Batre family physician has been approved for a 2.2 million dollar grant to finish construction. The 8-thousand square foot facility has been sitting for months since the rural doctor ran out of money to finish the job.

In the meantime, patients have been squeezing into the small office next door on Tapia Lane.

The grant originates in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and is designated for Post-Katrina recovery. The money was distributed by Alabama's Department of Human Resources. DHR confirms the grant for the clinic but won't comment on the money because of a confidentiality agreement.

The news comes just weeks after Dr. Benjamin is nominated by President Barack Obama to be the new Surgeon General.

State Representative Spencer Collier confirms the dollar amount and says the grant has been a work-in-progress. "We've been fighting for a long time to get the funding to complete the project. Is the timing coincidental? I don't know but I'm just happy for my community and my district. We need the clinic."

With the new grant money, the clinic could be finished by January of next year. There's still some additional grant money in the works for the clinic to payback out-of-pocket and expenses that have helped keep construction going.

As for Dr. Benjamin's new job, Senate confirmation will begin sometime after Labor Day.

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really-doe Says:

Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 4:06 pm

I think that Dr. Benjamin has been great for the area, and it is great to have a local receive so much attention on the national level. However, I think that the US surgeon general should at least be a surgeon… the nomination fits with what Obama is doing.

ceevewz Says:

Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 7:24 pm

Thanks Tiffany Craig for your report about Dr. Regina Benjamin’s recent approval for funding to continue reconstruction on the clinic in Bayou la Batre. The people of that community deserve the kind of quality health care that Dr. Benjamin has provided over the years and Rep. Spencer Collier has shown good leadership with his assistance to acquire the needed funding. Hats off to him and his staff. Dr. Benjamin’s nomination and upcoming confirmation hearings should also be a point of great pride for all of the people of south Alabama and really the entire state. She is definitely something special and one of a new kind of physician putting health care and serving people’s needs ahead of the old “country club” way of looking at dollars and economic gain more than helping to improve and maintain health. We wish her the absolute best and continued success.

From the San Francisco Bay Area