09/04/2026
Local and state officials gathered for a ribbon cutting of the new DeKalb County Health Department Thursday, September 3 at 286 Tiger Drive.
The facility opened in a limited capacity Monday, August 10 until the transition was complete.
Ground breaking for the new 9,860 square foot building was held on July 30, 2025. AEI of Cookeville was the architect of record and Sain Construction of Manchester served as the contractor for the project.
The new health department was constructed using state and local allocations of federal ARP funds (American Rescue Plan Funds) which included the earmarking of State support of $4,300,500 (previously committed federal ARP funds coming through the state) and the remaining $398,000 in local matching funds (previously committed ARP funds).
At the ground breaking ceremony, Director Michael Railling said the new complex, which is larger than the old 8,470 square foot building, will offer 10 clinic rooms as opposed to six at the former facility and continue offering primary care services as a federally designated site which includes treatment of acute illness and chronic disease management provided by a nurse practitioner or physician. Services can also include telehealth, wellness exams, laboratory tests, and health education.
“We couldn’t ask for any better location for our new complex,” Railing said. “Its ideal right next door to where we were and we won’t have a problem with people knowing where to find us. We are established here and have been since 1971 right next to the high school and middle school. We do a lot of programs in the school system so that also makes our location convenient”.
Unlike other states, Tennessee provides primary care at its local health departments according to Dave Harrell, Director of Special Projects for the Tennessee Department of Health.
“Tennessee is the only state in the union that provides primary care in our health departments. That’s unusual but it’s a great blessing and part of what this new building will do is allow us to do that more efficiently and more safely if God forbid there is another pandemic. The whole purpose of these (ARP) funds (used to build the new health department) is to make sure we are better prepared for the next pandemic than we were for Covid. This staff worked very hard during Covid and they will have to work hard during the next pandemic also but hopefully they will be able to work smarter and safer. That’s what these funds are for and what the new building will accomplish here,” said Harrell.
As a federally designated site in a medically underserved community, Director Railling said the DeKalb County Health Department will be poised to increase access to affordable primary care services for patients who are uninsured, underinsured and privately insured.
At the ground breaking Director Railing said “We wouldn’t have been able to do this without help from a lot of individuals and I want to recognize them including (former) County MayorMatt Adcock. He has been with us the whole way and supported us during the whole project. Also thanks to his predecessor Tim Stribling. He was the one who pushed this along from the get go and helped us with the county commission to get everything passed with the (ARP grant) match. He was very important to this project. We had support from all the county commissioners. From the beginning of the project they were willing to be able to put up the (grant) match to get this funded. We thank them (county commissioners) for supporting us. I want to thank my boss Angel Troxell, our regional director and her office and the Tennessee Department of Health staff helping for us with the accounting aspects of it and getting our grants and everything pushed through so we could get this started. Thanks to AEI Architect who designed the plans. This building is going to be a great asset to the community. It’s a beautiful building. It different. Its not cookie cutter. I want to thank the staff as well. This is being built with American Recovery Plan Covid Relief funds. The staff of 13 here literally sat here for about two years underneath a canopy testing individuals or doing vaccines. There were over 11,000 tests and more than 8,000 vaccines done in heat like this today as well as in 20 and 30 degree temperatures. We’re doing this in part for them and they are super excited about this new space” said Railling.
