The Robeson Health Care Corporation will break ground on May 20 on the Julian T. Pierce Health Center on Union Chapel Road in Pembroke.
A new medical center in Robeson County will offer optometry services through a partnership with The University of North Carolina at Pembroke. The Robeson Health Care Corporation will break ground on May 20 on the Julian T. Pierce Health Center on Union Chapel Road in Pembroke.
The 29,000-square-foot facility will replace the existing and much smaller Pierce center on East Wardell Drive. Along with optometry, the new center will feature primary care and behavioral health services and a pharmacy.
Jennifer McLamb, chief operating officer at RHCC, said the project has been in the works since 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed progress. It is expected to open next year.
RHCC’s expansion into eye care comes as UNC Pembroke plans to welcome its first students at the College of Optometric Medicine in 2027. The new program is part of UNC Pembroke’s larger focus on training medical professionals; it recently launched a doctor of nursing practice degree program. There are plans to build a $91 million Allied Health and Sciences building on campus.
The College of Optometric Medicine will offer North Carolina’s only public doctoral program in optometry, filling a need for eye care across southeastern North Carolina and beyond.
Faculty from UNC Pembroke will provide optometry services to patients at the new Julian T. Pierce Health Center, McLamb said. They will also use the space to train students.
McLamb, who wears glasses, said she’s had to rely on the center’s co-locating services to connect with outside providers. Due to shortages, she’s run into providers with long waiting times. In one case, she had to wait a year to reschedule her optometrist appointment.
“It’s a beautiful partnership that we are building with the university to do optometry in this building,” she said.
Robeson and surrounding counties, including Bladen, Columbus and Scotland, have fewer optometrists per 10,000 residents than many counties across the state, according to a 2017 report from the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at UNC-Chapel Hill.
The region consistently fares worse than the state overall in the annual County Health Rankings & Roadmaps published by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. In Robeson County, 16% of residents have been diagnosed with diabetes, compared to 11% statewide, the rankings show. Diabetic retinopathy can cause retinal damage or blindness.
The existing Pierce center will likely be converted into administrative office space, McLamb said.
It has the smallest pharmacy among RHCC’s eight medical centers. At the new facility, McLamb said, robots will administer medication at a drive-thru pharmacy lane.
The second floor of the new building will house meeting rooms for RHCC’s more than 250 employees, or it could be repurposed as rental space.
Cherry Maynor Beasley, who served as founding chair of UNC Pembroke’s Department of Nursing and advocates for public health access for the Lumbee tribe, said the optometry partnership will make a tremendous difference for everyone in Robeson County.
Working with RHCC is key. “We’re just excited and thrilled to have them and still to have them as a partner in the community,” she said.
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