Residents, workers and visitors to downtown Hot Springs will have a new option for medical care beginning today staffed by two familiar faces.
Dr. Yang Xu and his wife, Dr. Christine Lai, who have worked in Hot Springs for 11 years, are opening Hot Springs Internal Medicine Clinic at 301 Exchange St., in a former bank building.
"We're excited, it's been a long journey. There's so many steps involved in opening a medical practice that we couldn't anticipate, because this is our first time, but we feel that we've made everything just fit," Xu told The Sentinel-Record.
He said the decision to open a new clinic came down to two issues -- more autonomy over his career and to be closer to his father, artist Longhua Xu, whose art studio is located next door to the clinic.
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"I felt like, especially after my mom (Shunying Chen) passed away last year, that I needed to be closer to dad, and also I wanted more autonomy over my practice and my professional life, so this way it gives me more autonomy in terms of health practice," Xu said, "but mainly the issue was this way I can take care of my father who is literally next door now."
Xu said this will allow him to check in on his father throughout the day and stop over to eat lunch with him.
Xu has lived in Hot Springs since he was 9 years old, and considers this to be his hometown, he said. "And obviously my parents are here, so that's a big part of it, especially as a first child in our culture, it's really my duty to take care of the parents, and I really honor that role."
While the clinic officially opens for patients today, it actually saw its first patient on Friday after Hot Springs Mayor Pat McCabe insisted on being the first in line.
McCabe told The Sentinel-Record that having a doctor within walking distance of where he works is a benefit. McCabe is president and CEO of Levi Hospital, located up Prospect Avenue just west of the clinic.
"For me, it is very convenient. I actually walked here today, and from here I'll walk back, and so for those who have a regular purpose of being downtown or live in the north part of town or in the Quapaw/Prospect area, this is very, very convenient for me as well as it will be convenient for others," he said.
Xu said the family has owned the building for a while.
"We really couldn't figure out what to do with it. We thought about leasing it out, and we tried to do that for a little while, and when the opportunity came up to open up our own practice, we felt like this was a perfect spot," he said.
"There's not really any nearby practices, so it's an area that really could use a medical practice," Xu said, noting how many people work in the downtown area. As an example, he said it takes about five minutes to walk from the newspaper office, located at 300 Spring St., to the clinic.
"For you guys ... and for all those professional services, who need to see a physician, but can't get away from work for an extended time, they could literally hop on over and it would take ... from here to The Sentinel-Record is maybe five minutes, maybe less, and lots of places are like that," Xu said.
The location has ample parking, but Xu encourages people to walk to the clinic and recommends that people in general walk more. "If you walk a lot more, overall health is a lot better," he said, adding that while there are external issues that can affect health, "the data's pretty clear on that."
The building, Xu said, was built in the late 1960s and they made an effort to keep the building looking like itself.
"A lot of the décor and -- well the color we had to change, it was pretty bad -- but I really like the design, so the simplicity and how functional that midcentury modern design was, I really liked," Xu said.
"Same as a lot of business owners downtown, we really hate to have these buildings destroyed," he said.
McCabe also said he likes seeing the building find new life.
"It's always great to see a building repurposed and put back into use. It provides another piece of the puzzle if you will to the revitalization of the entire downtown area," he said.
As his father, mother and uncle, Longbao Xu, are all artists, Xu decorated the clinic with artwork from his family and the clinic will hold an open house during Gallery Walk on Friday.
"We're going to have from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., a small open house for any interested patients and also any art enthusiasts that want to see the building and the art," Xu said.
