New Clinic Providing Services in Shelbyville
By Marlana Smith
Peoples Clinic, a new business in Shelbyville, held an open house and celebrated with a ribbon- cutting ceremony on Wednesday, January 15.
Owner Alli Peoples Shaw also owns the clinic in Clarence. Shaw said since childhood, she knew she wanted to work in the healthcare field.
“When I was 10 years old, I got really sick with pneumonia and was in the ICU for a couple weeks. That’s when I realized I wanted to do something with healthcare whether it be a nurse or doctor,” Shaw recalled.
Growing up in Leonard, Shaw said, “It has always been a dream of mine to serve the community where I grew up. I always knew I loved Leonard, Shelby County and North Shelby.
“I knew I wanted to come back and raise my kids in the community. That’s been my goal forever,” said Shaw.
Shaw earned a degree in Biology from the University of Missouri and a Bachelor of Nursing from Mizzou’s accelerated program. Shaw then earned her Nurse Practitioner degree from Maryville University in St. Louis.
Upon graduation from Maryville, she worked for a few years at University Hospital in Columbia.
“A wise doctor in Kirksville who I was job shadowing at the time told me, ‘If you want to go back and work in your hometown, don’t become a doctor you will never make it. Be a nurse practitioner.’ I took that to heart because he wasn’t the only who told me that,” Shaw said.
“I also got a great opportunity to work as the Nurse Coordinator for the Bio-Joint Center (Missouri Orthopedic Institute.)”
That’s where Shaw started her nurse practitioner degree. She began doing clinicals and then did clinicals with Carol Timmons.
“Me and Carol talked about both working at the clinic and eventually putting one in Shelbyville. I bought the Clarence clinic from her. She (Carol) got home sick for her grandkids and she left.
“I still had the idea of doing Shelbyville. My husband, parents and family were very supportive and said just do it,” Shaw continued.
Shaw said when she found out that Doctor Wendell Nickerson’s Calvary Medical Center was closing, Shaw thought it would be a good opportunity to have a clinic in Shelbyville because the community would be losing that service.
Shaw added she wanted to provide care in the area so people wouldn’t have to drive a lengthy distance.
“It is an aging population and when people are sick, they don’t want to travel. The goal is to see people whether they want to establish care here or not. We are just going to be accessible,” said Shaw.
“My big thing is getting people in the day they are sick and not having them have to wait. It kind of gives people the option of having closer care in Shelbyville and also in Clarence.”
Shaw said her long-term goal is hopefully to hire another nurse practitioner.
“The big goal is having this clinic open on Saturdays. It would kind of set up like an urgent care. There will be x-ray machines. There are no options around here that are open on Saturdays without having to drive very far,” said Shaw.
Construction of the new clinic site started in the fall of 2019. Schwada Builders began construction on the new clinic in Shelbyville as they were remodeling the clinic in Clarence.
The Shelbyville Clinic is open Tuesday and Thursday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The clinic in Clarence is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Tuesday and Thursday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
