BELHAVEN — Tuesday marked one year since Vidant Health opened its 24-hour multispecialty clinic in Belhaven.

Since opening on June 20, 2016, the clinic has seen thousands of patients and continues to operate for 24 hours, seven days a week, at its West Old County Road location.

As of Friday, the clinic has recorded 27,263 patient visits since opening, according to Pam Shadle, manager of marketing and public relations for Vidant Beaufort Hospital.

“The Multispecialty Clinic in Belhaven has been a great addition to our health care delivery system in the Beaufort County area,” said Harvey Case, president of Vidant Beaufort Hospital.  “We are pleased that the 24/7 immediate-care clinic has been a great resource for care for families all across our region.”

“This clinic has now allowed us to have ultrasound, which was very integral in health care. One, if someone comes in as OB, it’s nice to have real-time images right then, rather than set somebody up and have it done off site,” said Dr. Mark Beamer, a full-time physician at the clinic, in a promotional video. “That was a modality we were lacking not having a hospital, and that definitely aids in patient care.”

Along with ultrasounds, the clinic also offers physical therapy, X-ray capabilities, helicopter pad, lab workspaces, cardiology consults, prenatal care, on-site health coaching and regular primary care, among others. It offers immediate, specialized care — not emergency care.

With 19 exam rooms and a separate treatment room for biopsies or lacerations, the facility staffs Beamer full time and another physician part time, two physician’s assistants and three nurse practitioners.

Dr. Gregory Jones, a longtime physician who also worked at the clinic, retired this past week after 28 years in Belhaven.

“We will be seeing primary care patients from the cradle to the grave,” Jones said at the clinic’s opening celebration.

Lindsay Goldberg, an office assistant at the clinic who previously worked for the late Dr. Charles Boyette, said overall the past year has been a great one.

Goldberg said she thinks having all physicians moved under one roof was a good step and has been helpful for staff and patients alike.

“It’s just been really awesome, and you know the flow, the work flow, has been a lot better,” she said. “We just have a lot more resources.”

Goldberg said she has also seen growth in the number of patients, especially with the walk-in portion of the clinic.

“Twenty patients is slow for us,” she said. “It really has been amazing.”

Belhaven’s multispecialty clinic was a strong point of contention among the town’s residents, some of who disparaged Vidant for closing the former Pungo District Hospital in favor of building the clinic.

Mayor Adam O’Neal has referred to the facility as a “glorified doctor’s office” on multiple occasions and discussed the misconception some residents have of the clinic providing emergency room capabilities.

After a years-long fight to reopen a hospital facility in the town, which traveled through state and federal courts, prompted walks to Washington, D.C., and involved the state NAACP, the old hospital building was eventually demolished in late December 2016.

Despite the backlash, Vidant officials maintain that the multispecialty clinic was a more viable plan for health care in Belhaven and would allow more resources to be invested in Washington’s Vidant Beaufort Hospital.

Vidant originally estimated the clinic’s cost of construction to be around $4.2 million, but the yearlong project came in at a price tag of more than $6 million.

Along with support from the Belhaven Community Chamber of Commerce, Between Water and Main Bed and Breakfast owner Gail Fowler also lent her support from the business perspective of what the clinic offers.

“Our business focuses on healthy living, between our yoga studio and the choices we make preparing our breakfast,” Fowler said in the promotional video. “It’s comforting to know that the Vidant multispecialty clinic is here in our neighborhood, that not only serves the medical needs of our residents, but also our guests … boaters who are in our community on a regular basis, as well as people just passing though.”

“For 24 years I have practiced medicine; 22 of those years, I have practiced in Belhaven. This has been a great experience. It has been a labor of love. It is a labor of passion,” Beamer said.