WELLS &045; A new system of health care is taking to towns throughout southwestern Minnesota.

In Wells, a branch within the United Hospital District network has opened in the old Radio Shack building. The Center for Specialty Care opened in January.

&uot;Our purpose is to take specialty care and bring it to areas where it might not have been available before,&uot; Dr. Stuart Sherry of the Center for Specialty Care said.

Sherry is one of two specialized doctors at the clinic. He is a board certified gynecologist. The other physician, Dr. Christopher Anderson, specializes in internal medicine.

The network began out of Fairmont three years ago. The goal was to provide a regional way to get strong health care in rural areas. Each clinic has specialty doctors. These doctors are based out of home clinics but travel to other clinics depending on the care needed.

&uot;It’s a fairly novel idea,&uot; Sherry said about the health care system.

Sherry said that patients in Wells can get specialized care for women’s health and internal medicine from the two doctors there, but also others can be brought in for other specialities. He also said if certain surgeries are needed, that patients won’t have to drive three hours to get there. Instead they can go to the core clinics in Blue Earth or Fairmont.

Wells has a Mayo Health System satelite branch in town as well. But Sherry said they aren’t in competition. That clinic provides general care with a general physician and physician’s assistant.

&uot;We are outreaching for specialty care in a vacuum where there isn’t that type of care,&uot; Sherry said. While speculation has been made that the clinic is in Wells for competition, he says that’s untrue and that the purpose is to provide what wasn’t already in Wells.

&uot;We didn’t come in here blindly. We did interviews and we surveyed. We are here to stay,&uot; he said.

The clinic takes in patients on open access, which means they don’t have to &uot;wait six weeks&uot; for an appointment, according to Sherry.

He hopes the clinic will succeed in Wells and it will offer the type of care the rural town needs.

&uot;I’ve been in a lot of outreach networks, but I haven’t seen one like this,&uot; he said. &uot;I’m very pleased with what is transpiring here. I think it’s to everyone’s advantage.&uot;