This time, the patient saves the clinic

Nicole Perrone, left, the clinic’s physician associate and CEO, is seen with longtime patient Al Goodman at the facility on Aug. 9, 2024. Goodman purchased the clinic operation hours before the prior owners of the business had planned to close the doors June 13. [Andy Fillmore]

Patients and staff at Citra Family Health were teary-eyed on June 13 as the clinic prepared to shutter after a 30-year run. But just hours before the owners were to close the doors, longtime patient and local resident Al Goodman stepped up and bought the clinic business, allowing the healthcare provider to remain open.

Goodman credits the clinic staff with “saving his life” twice over the years, including initially treating him after he was affected by a nearby lightning strike and also after suffering a “TIA” or what he called a “mini-stroke.”

“(Citra Family Health) has been part of the community for (almost) 30 years (and) to see it close didn’t strike me right,” he said.

Jenny Harris, the clinic’s front-desk manager, called the saving of the clinic operation at the last moment “a miracle.”

“It was a sad day. We had already packed,” Harris said. She had already called most people on a list of over 1,000 patients treated by the facility to notify them of the shutdown. The clinic has seen 20 or more patients daily at times.

Harris said patients, including those who travel from surrounding locations Fort McCoy, Palatka and Hawthorne, were “praising God” for the clinic’s “amazing” last-minute reprieve.

Nicole Perrone, the clinic’s board-certified physician associate since June 2023 and CEO since June 14, described some patients as “distraught and crying” about the clinic closing.

“Many of our patients are disadvantaged and don’t have the means to travel to Ocala or Williston for treatment. We have one patient who rides his lawn mower to get here,” she said.

The facility, Perrone explained, can treat chronic conditions and provide some urgent care based upon the patient’s trauma level. Citra Family Health is a “National Health Service Corps (NHSC) certified rural healthcare clinic,” she said, and is overseen by a medical doctor in Belleview.

Perrone said the clinic staff can diagnose and treat illnesses from the common cold to diabetes, COPD, arthritis. “We manage very complex patients who have cancer, but we do not provide actual cancer treatment,” which is referred out, she explained.

Perrone, 24, an Ocala native, is a graduate of Forest High School. She attended the University of South Florida in Tampa and completed post-graduate studies at Bay Path University in Longmeadow, Massachusetts.

Perrone said she has a “passion” for the clinic and “a heart” for the members of the North Marion County community, which she considers her hometown.

Perrone said in some cases patients do not have health insurance and, for treatments like mammograms, the clinic will refer the patient to nonprofits like Michelle-O-Gram, a Marion County-based nonprofit.

The clinic has a third part-time staff member, Stacy Berardi, who serves as a medical assistant and handles clerical duties.

Barbara Murphree owned Citrus Family Health from 2004 to 2014 and served as the clinic’s physician assistant with an Ocala medical doctor acting as supervising physician. She stated in a text message that the clinic opened in 1998 and meets national standards set by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

She called the clinic “central to the community,” providing readily accessible essential healthcare to residents of an “underserved” area.

Murphree wrote that the previous owners were about to close the clinic when Goodman purchased the operation, and now Perrone continues to provide “expert medical care” to clinic patients.

Goodman moved from Miami to the Citra area in 1978 and was involved in establishing the Miami Revival Center church in his new hometown.

He said the first occupant of the building at 17805 N U.S. 301 was Cestone Realty and then the property was sold to a fellow church member and made into the Buds and Blossoms flower shop before the clinic took over.

Marion County Property Appraiser records indicate the 1,692-square-foot clinic building, constructed in 1981, and the surrounding 2.17-acre parcel, was purchased by Orion Investments of Gainesville in April 2023. The clinic operation business leases the building from the property owners, Perrone indicated.

Goodman, who is a licensed water management expert, has monitored and managed the water for the building for county requirements, for many years.

Goodman took a “leap of faith” when he learned of the planned closing and visited his longtime bank but was denied a loan to buy the clinic operation. He then visited Truist Bank in Ocala and the loan was approved.

“Now Citra Family Health can keep serving the community,” he said.

Jenny Harris, left, front desk manager at Citra Family Health, and Nicole Perrone, the clinic’s physician associate and CEO, pose with longtime patient Al Goodman at the facility on Aug. 9, 2024. [Andy Fillmore]