New clinic is now open in Fremont
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on September 24, 2008 1:46 PM
FREMONT -- Goshen Medical Center has opened a clinic in Fremont.
An open house was held earlier this month at the new center at 109 Sycamore St. for town residents to get to know their new health-care providers, Dr. Allyn Dambeck and physician's assistant Joe Warren.
News-Argus/Bonnie Edwards
Virginia Davis chats with physician's assistant Joe Warren during an open house at the Goshen Medical Center in Fremont. Warren is seeing patients five days a week at the clinic on Sycamore Street.
Warren is at the non-profit clinic five days a week, and residents who attended the open house let it be known that they were looking forward to having a medical specialist in town.
Fremont was without a full-time medical provider for nearly a year after the retirement of long-time physician Dr. Jesse Black-mon, Town Administrator Kerry McDuffie said.
"We had to go to Wilson or Goldsboro or wherever else," McDuffie said. "This is great, especially for those who don't want to drive that far. We are very glad to have a medical provider back in here."
Warren said the welcome he has received from Fremont residents gives him a good feeling and that he is looking forward to serving the area residents.
Originally from Newton Grove, Warren said his grandparents were farmers and his father was a tradesman. But he decided early on that neither of those lines of work would be the life for him.
He joined the military and went into Special Forces, where he served as a medic for the Green Berets.
He later left the military and attended East Carolina University in Greenville and Methodist College in Fayetteville to become a physician's assistant.
He worked a couple of years in Scotland Neck until he received a call from Dr. Greg Bounds, executive director of Goshen Medical Center.
Goshen, which serves many rural patients, is based in Faison, with several clinics in outlying areas.
The retirement of the beloved Blackmon left the Fremont People's Clinic as the only local medical care area residents to which area residents had immediate access.
The clinic has for years provided regular health screenings. But that was not enough to meet the community's needs, and the medical students who helped conduct the clinic contacted Bounds and asked for help.
When the doctor's office building became empty, Bounds obtained grant money to get it reopened.
Goshen received a $150,000 grant from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust with which to purchase the building and buy needed equipment.
And after some clean-up and organizing, the medical non-profit brought in new computers, sterilized everything and opened for business.
The new medical center in Fremont needed a health care provider who could be there every day, and Warren agreed to come on board.