Patients will no longer wait because Tombstone Family Health Clinic finally opened its doors to the public last Thursday but questions about the delayed opening remain.

Only a few fliers were handed out to local businesses around town about the clinic’s opening and hours. Tombstone Family Health will be open on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. It also will be open the second and fourth Friday of each month and will see patients by appointment then.

The health clinic has been ready to open for almost a year without any explanation for the hold up. The City of Tombstone patiently waited for Tombstone Family Health Clinic to begin working on residents. “I’m glad it’s finally open,” said Mayor Dusty Escapule. “It’s been over a year since they finished construction.”

Escapule said the health clinic is privately owned and operated by the Sierra Vista Regional Health Center and he was surprised to find out the clinic was opened without any formal announcements but said, “It’s about time.”

Linda Kamrowski, a spokeswoman for the Sierra Vista Regional Health Center, said this is a soft opening for the clinic. “We will have an open house and ribbon cutting ceremony that will be open to the public sometime before Thanksgiving,” she said. No date has been set.

The owner of the Tombstone Pharmacy, John Nicolais, also was surprised by the opening of the clinic and the lack of advertisement. “I found out about the opening because a few of the clinic officials dropped off some fliers by the Pharmacy last week,” said Nicolais.

Kamrowski said Sierra Vista Regional Health Center isn’t releasing any information about the clinic other than the names of the family physician and the nurse practitioner who were hired.  Dr. Parag Patel is a family practitioner who also works in geriatrics and Luchia Young is the nurse practitioner for the clinic.

Tombstone Family Health was slated to open June 1, according to Laura Oxley of the Arizona Department of Health Services.

The application for a license was turned in to the Health Services Department in early March. Tombstone Family Health delayed opening until just last month with no explanation.

Another Tombstone native and owner of Six Gun City Mike Carrafa was stunned to hear about the opening of the clinic. “The clinic, it’s open? I had no idea, no one has said anything about it,” said Carrafa.

A grand opening may be planned for the future but if Sierra Vista Regional Health Center is as efficient as they were in getting the clinic open, some Tombstone residents wonder if many people will ever know there is a doctor in town.

“I guess it’s better than driving to Sierra Vista,” Carrafa said.