Visiting a doctor’s office in Oglethorpe County wasn’t always possible.
Before the late 1970s, receiving health care often meant waiting on a doctor to travel from a neighboring county. That is, until a health center was opened by a staff of three people — a secretary, nurse practitioner and licensed practical nurse.
Oglethorpe Primary Health Care Center was established in 1979 under the Rural Health Initiative Program as a supported health care facility.
It operated in one small building located off the intersection of Highway 78 and South Broad Street in Crawford.
Known today as MedLink Georgia, Oglethorpe Primary Health Care Center was the first of now 38 existing MedLink locations throughout Northeast Georgia that offer a variety of health care services.
Judith Paul and Anne Cummings, Oglethorpe Primary Health Care Center’s first secretary and nurse practitioner, were in their 40s when they helped open the center. They are now 85 and 86, and remember what it was like.
“It was wonderful for the people here because we didn’t have any doctors close to us here in Oglethorpe County,” said Paul, the center’s secretary. “But after that opened up, and everybody got used to it and all, it was wonderful, really.”
When Oglethorpe Primary Health Care Center first opened its doors, a doctor from Athens came to the office once a week to receive medical reports from staff and see patients. The other days, Cummings, who was the nurse practitioner, was on call as the primary medic in the center.
Cummings was a part of the first wave of nurse practitioners in the U.S., according to her daughter, Susan Ahrens.
The practice was originally designed to increase access to health care in rural areas. Cummings received her nursing school diploma from the University of Georgia and from there, received her nurse practitioner license.
“Nowadays, you have to go through and have a masters, and practically a Ph.D., to do that,” said Ahrens, a registered nurse.
Paul said distrust in the ability of nurse practitioners initially hindered the center’s impact in the county.
“The county didn’t know what nurse practitioners were,” she said. “So it took awhile for people to accept the nurse practitioner. When you’d say ‘nurse,’ people thought ‘Well, she couldn’t be a doctor.’ But they were. They could do everything a doctor could, really.”
Cummings also remembers the initial feeling of distrust with her practice.
“The patients didn’t know me until they came to the center and started being seen,” she said. “We had to pave our way, believe me, we had to pave our way.”
Paul served as a secretary at both locations for 25 years and was nicknamed “The Queen” by her fellow employees, which originated from an inside joke.
She remembers her two sons, Lee Paul and Jay Paul, the chairman of the Board of Commissioners, playing at the location in Crawford after school while she worked.
“The bus let them off at the center,” she said. “And there was a big old tree behind the center, and they would go out there and play. It was really nice.”
Cummings served at Oglethorpe Primary Health Care Center until 1986, continuing her practice with Greater Athens Physicians Inc. in 1987. She fondly remembers her time spent at the center.
“It brings back some special memories for me,” she said. “We had a great time, and (Judith) is wonderful.”
Ahrens said Oglethorpe Primary Health Care Center helped to elevate the county, paving the way to newer services, such as urgent care.
“The initial calling of the nurse practitioner was to make rural health care more accessible,” she said. “Which was what the Primary Health Care Center did.”
Oglethorpe Primary Health Care Center eventually relocated to its current location — 247 Union Point St. in Lexington — where its service to the county has continued to grow.
Today, MedLink continues to offer both uninsured and underinsured health care. The corporation said it aims to never deny a patient based on their income or insurance status.
Paul said access to health care in Oglethorpe County is “100% better” today than it was when she helped open Oglethorpe Primary Health Care Center in 1979.
“It changed life in Oglethorpe, is I guess the way I want to put it,” she said.