By Derek Spellman

dspellman@joplinglobe.com

Access Family Care has been awarded a federal grant of more than $635,000 for construction of a new clinic in Cassville.

Access Family Care is one of 20 health agencies in Missouri to receive funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, according to a release from U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

Don McBride, chief executive officer of Access Family Care, said the stimulus funds will be coupled with an additional $477,500 in federal funding to build the new clinic in Cassville.

“Cassville has been in our strategic plan for the last several years,” McBride said Tuesday.

The nonprofit organization has outgrown the space at its current clinic in Cassville, he said, and hopes to break ground in the fall for a new, 5,000-square-foot building. The current clinic at 1101 Main St. in Cassville has about 1,300 square feet.

“It’s been a good facility,” McBride said of the current building. “We’ve just outgrown it.”

The new clinic is to be built at Fasco Road and Clover Street on land donated to Access Family Care.

The larger clinic will offer space for patient education and group sessions centering on, for example, wellness and preventive programs. It also will create space for behavioral health programs.

McBride said the organization one day hopes to add dental services to the Cassville location.