Grapeland Urgent Care Under New Ownership
Above photo: From left, Nurse practitioner Chrissy Shupak, medical assistant Debbie McAdams, receptionist Haley Shupak. (Photo Cheril Vernon, Messenger)
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
GRAPELAND – Grapeland Urgent Care was purchased over the summer, with the new owners expanding the services offered and looking to offer the community unique services without having to venture too far from Grapeland.
When the previous owners began to consider selling the business, there were interested parties, but no takers. J.R. Spisak and his wife Chrissy had created Lone Pine Med Spa and were thinking of opening a similar business in the area and when they heard the facility was for sale, joked they might be interested in buying it and asked how much he would want for it.
“He gave me a dollar amount and I thought, that’s not bad at all,” Spisak said. I talked to my husband about it and thought if we can make it work and keep it open for the community, absolutely!”
The two parties worked on not only the financials, but how to go through the steps of transferring over a medical facility. The Spisaks paired up with Dr. Clifton O’Meara, who serves as their Medical Director.
Spisak found willing helpers from the City of Grapeland, too, who owns the building. She said the city helped with the lease and other arrangements, eager to maintain a tenant and to keep a medical service provider in the area, according to Grapeland City Manager Kevin Watts.
“We utilize it with our employees. When we’re doing new hires, we send our employees over for testing, and we don’t want to send them anywhere else. We want to keep the money local,” Watts said. “It’s a great asset, especially with the elderly in the area, so they can go and not have to drive very far to get some good medical care. Even though we have our clinic downtown on Main Street, it’s always good to have another resource.”
Spisak herself is from the Lubbock area in West Texas and decided to relocate to her husband J.R.’s home here in Houston County, after the two married.
“He was born and raised here and has no intention of ever trying to leave this area,” Spisak said. “This is where he’s from and all his family are here. Of course, I love it. I love the trees and the water and everybody has been very welcoming to me and very nice and accepting of me as a provider. It’s a close knit family. It’s the small town where everybody knows everybody.”
Spisak has spent 22 years in nursing, with heavy experience in emergency and intense-care-unit nursing. She could have gone on to become a doctor, but found nursing gave her the opportunity to be involved with her patients and their care, being able to spend more time with them and see to their needs.
“On the nursing side of it, you get to learn that taking care of a patient or fixing a problem isn’t just the problem you have at hand – there’s a bigger picture. There’s the patient and the patient’s family and their circumstances,” Spisak explained. “Their support system at home plays a huge role in the success of a patient being able to overcome an illness or injury. And I think in nursing, we are taught to focus on the entire patient as a whole, including all of that background, versus doctors are more specifically geared to just the problem at hand.”
The new venture looks to have more clearer working schedules and processes, with emphasis on not only patient care, but customer service. The new services added should cater to the needs of many in the community.
“We offer IV hydration peptides and weight loss programs. We do Botox, or neurotoxin injections. I do PRP injections, which is platelet rich plasma – it’s great for skin rejuvenation and hair growth,” Spisak said. “We also do collagen, the more natural way of rejuvenating facial wrinkle lines, necklines, and trying to stimulate the hair follicles to grow. I also help manage testosterone and hormone replacement for patients, whether that includes injections pills or pellets.”
Spisak wants the new facility to have a new outlook when it comes to patients and how they are treated when they come in.
“The tagline they’ve used in the past was, ‘Passion is our service.’ And I truly believe that. Patients should be able to come in and be honest and open about whatever their issue is,”Spisak said. “The should receive quality care, regardless of whether they’re insured or not, because there’s always that misconception. I’m big on making sure my patients feel they are valued and that I do care about their long term goals for their health.”
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
