The Cowles Clinic broke ground on the brand new Nephrology and Dialysis Center on Monday.

The building, named Spruce, is the newest addition to the already expansive line of care for which the clinic is known. The Cowles Clinic settled into the Oconee area six years ago.

The new, $1.2 million facility will mimic the current one-story traditional style of the buildings.

The building is set for completion by Sept. 1.  

Bruce Kirby, CEO at the clinic, has overseen much of the new building’s design.

“The building will be occupied by American Renal Associates and Nephrology Associates from Augusta. We’re using Dream Built, located here in Oconee. They’ve constructed all of the buildings in the clinic,” Kirby said.

Al Murawski, building engineer, has spent numerous hours making sure state-of-the-art equipment will be placed inside the building.

“We have 4,600 square feet in the building. It is specially designed for cleaned and purified water systems to prevent infection in patients. It will also have extra rooms and nurses stations. For the dialysis room, each station will have cable television for the patient’s pleasure,” Murawski said.

Dr. Bob Cowles has been practicing medicine since 1983. The clinic is his passion.

“My grandfather and my father are both doctors. I love studying about medicine, and it is a field that is constantly evolving. We built this place to provide specialists in the area, and I have always loved taking care of sick people,” Cowles said.

The clinic has become, as Cowles first desired, a destination health care system.

The clinic currently features more than 80 specialists that cater to the lake area and surrounding counties.

“We want all of our patients to feel at home and comfortable in our clinics. Dialysis is critically important to the patients who require it, and our new facility will feature state-of-the-art equipment and a beautiful place to have treatment,” Cowles said.

Dr. Bart Brezina, the medical

director, recognizes what a new treatment building will do for the community.

“We’ll start out one to two days a month. One to four times during the month is the standard care for dialysis patients. It is always nice when you have a new facility. It is an opportunity to set a new quality standard. Dialysis is critically important, and I’m thrilled that we will be able to help people here,” Brezina said.

The clinic will continue to build and add new services to the already extensive list. During the recession, numerous organizations have

dispersed.

The Cowles Clinic, according to Cowles, will not be one of those numbers.

“There are a lot of rumors that we are going under. I’m here to tell you that this is untrue. We are here as a force in the community. The clinic is very financially stable, and we want to have further expansion. I’ll be here every day, and we’ll continue to take patients and quality physicians. We are here, and we’ll be here for the community.”