By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times
Maralyn Mosley, one of Birmingham’s most passionate community activists, isn’t often at a loss for words, she said. But on Wednesday, Mosley said she was both “speechless” and “overwhelmed.”
Mosley and more than a dozen elected officials, hospital administrators, business and civic leaders, residents and others gathered for a ribbon cutting at a brand new $120-million Cooper Green Mercy Health Services state-of-the-art outpatient clinic on Birmingham’s southside.
The 211,000 square feet, five-story building, at 1509 Sixth Ave. South, provides full-service outpatient care that includes primary and specialty care clinics, urgent care, physical, occupational and speech therapy, laboratory services, imaging, and a pharmacy.
Few fought harder for the new Cooper Green than Mosley, a longtime patient, who battled Jefferson County officials for years to make sure the facility provided quality health care for the county’s sick poor.
On Wednesday, Mosley learned that a community room inside the facility had been named in her honor. It’s on the first floor right past the pharmacy.
The Mosley Room is a “multipurpose space [that] provides room for luncheons for support groups, community meetings, arts in medicine, and more,” according to a program book.
“I was in shock,” Mosley told The Birmingham Times. “I didn’t think anyone would have thought about a room in my name. It’s an honor. I was so overwhelmed. I’m never speechless but I couldn’t think of anything to say, and I felt if I said more than ‘thank you’ I would start crying.”
When Jefferson County officials made the decision to downsize the old Cooper Green Hospital in 2012, Mosley fought tooth and nail to prevent the move and told then County Manager Tony Petelos that she was prepared to be arrested if the county moved forward.
Petelos and Mosley on Wednesday recalled that conversation with a laugh.
“I told Mrs. Mosley 10 years ago we would build a new building and she didn’t believe me,” Petelos recalled. “So I reminded her (on Wednesday) and she said, ‘you did tell me that.”
“Tony Petelos and I were sitting together talking to each other civilly,” Mosley said with a laugh on Wednesday. “…Today was a good day. We weren’t screaming and calling each other names.”
Mosley said her fight was to make sure that all patients received the quality health care they deserved regardless of their ability to pay. “… Even though you were poor and you had no money … [the indigent sick poor] who came to Cooper Green from throughout Jefferson County deserved [a world class clinic],” she said.
On Wednesday, ribbon was cut on that world class facility. “The building is beautiful,” Mosley said. “People can come in and talk about diets and diabetes and eye disease and cancer and get information about health care and how you can take care of yourself.”
Patients of Cooper Green will also have access to an MRI machine, allowing for complete imaging in-house, an in-house pharmacy, a consultation room, and vaccination area. The urgent care clinic has a separate entrance and has designated areas for well and sick patients, as well as a casting room for minor injuries.
The rehabilitation area has an outdoor patio with multiple surfaces, a low-impact water treadmill and zero G gait system. There is also an eye clinic with an optical shop to offer glasses on-site. The hematology/oncology clinic now has individual infusion bays where patients will receive treatment in a semi-private, comfortable space.
“I think it’s truly a testament to the individual and institutional commitments we’ve made to ensure that health care services will always be available for the individuals in our community,” said David Randall, CEO of Cooper Green Healthcare Authority, during Wednesday’s ceremony. “Cooper Green embodies the spirit, the desire, and the drive to make sure there is always a healing hand, an opportunity for hope for those that are in need.”
Raegan Durant, M.D., medical director for Cooper Green, said, “This state-of-the-art building is designed with the patient in mind, and our services are now more patient-centered than ever before. It signifies a new chapter in health care delivery, offering better access, improved care and superior outcomes for the residents of Jefferson County.”
Jefferson County Manager Cal Markert said, “Health care will be provided much more effectively and for years to come will serve the residents of our community in an exceptional manner.”
Hours of operation for urgent care will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and clinics are open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. To get connected with Cooper Green, call 205-930-3377.
Cooper Green, known as Mercy Hospital, opened in 1972, was a 319-bed acute care hospital, owned by Jefferson County and providing medical services to all residents of the county regardless of their ability to pay. In 1975, it was renamed to honor former Birmingham mayor Cooper Green.
