Cooperstown brings care to New Rockford

With a local provider on staff and a great New Rockford location in the works, an area medical center has plans to expand into Eddy County.

Cooperstown Medical Center (CMC) has announced plans to open the New Rockford Satellite Clinic on Aug.1.

The clinic will be located in a wing of the Lutheran Home of the Good Shepherd. The entrance will be near the Chapel, along 13th Street. This entrance allows people to access the clinic without having to enter the long term care facility, as well as enhances privacy and offers more of a clinic-like setting.

Cooperstown Medical Center is building a new campus in Cooperstown, in partnership with the Griggs County Care Center, the community's long term care center. They broke ground on the 59,569 sq. ft. facility last July, and they expect it to be completed by the end of the year. With this new facility will come a new name, to be announced in the near future, and the New Rockford clinic's name will change to match at that time.

Clinic hours will be Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. "If we find that we need to add another day in the future to be able to keep up with patient volumes, we will definitely consider it!" Nikki Lindsey, CEO of Cooperstown Medical Center, stated.

Locals will recognize the provider at the new clinic. Liza Ystaas, nee Weber, is a New Rockford native and 2002 graduate of NRHS. Her family moved back home to New Rockford five years ago. She is a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP-C) who obtained her master of science in nursing from University of North Dakota in 2020. Her husband, Justin, owns Divide Electrical & Automation, and the couple have three children.

Prior to that, Ystaas was a Registered Nurse for 15 years. She has practiced at the Spirit Lake Health Center in Fort Totten for the past two years.

"We were so happy to be able to find someone who lives in the community we want to serve," Lindsey said. She did clinical rotations at the Cooperstown clinic when she was a student, and ever since then we have been working on this plan to bring her on as a staff member!"

As they worked to recruit Ystaas, CMC staff learned of a "great need" for additional medical services in Eddy County.

"I grew up just down the road from New Rockford in the small town of Grace City, so I know how important it is to make sure there are adequate services available living in such a rural area," Lindsey added. "Since New Rockford doesn't have a full-time clinic, we felt it was a great opportunity to come in and help out."

"I see this new clinic in New Rockford as an opportunity to allow immediate access to health care, which is a key component to quality outcomes. Although rural clinics are small, what we offer in regard to quality, technology, and service can make a big impact on our community, Ystaas said. "In addition, working in rural health care means I am able to really get to know my patients, which is why I am so thrilled to be able to practice in my hometown."

In addition to her three days a week at the New Rockford Satellite Clinic, Ystaas will work one day a week in Cooperstown, and cover one weekend of ER/Hospital calls in Cooperstown per month.

Ystaas will see patients of all ages, for both acute and primary care. She will be able to provide a variety of services, from well child visits and sports physicals, to Medicare DOT physicals and Geriatric exams. The clinic will offer onsite lab draws and process some tests in-house. More complex lab specimens will be transported back to Cooperstown by a transport driver.

"Our goal will be to have labs back to patients within the same day, or by next day unless they are labs that typically require a longer processing time," Lindsey noted.

For updates and announcements, read the Independent, go on their website, http://www.coopermc.com, or find them on Facebook under Cooperstown Medical Center.