ARMS defends use of parking lot

WADESBORO — One business owner in Uptown Wadesboro noticed Anson Regional Medical Services (ARMS) fenced off a parking lot and was confused why the medical department needed the space, but ARMS, the owner of the lot, says it needs room for the provider’s newly purchased medical vans.

For more than 20 years the parking lot on the corner of Rutherford Street and Martin Street has belonged to the medical facility, according to ARMS Chief Executive Officer Gwendolyn Reed.

Employees from ARMS have never called to tow citizens using the lot, even though there are “No Trespassing” and “Private Property” signs posted. Businesses have been using the parking lot for their clients. Even citizens coming to parades in the town parked in that corner lot.

Taking away this space leaves less parking for visitors and customers, but looking back, Reed explains she should have never allowed people to park there in the first place, as it became a liability when drivers were having accidents.

“The zoning requirements say if you have so many providers, so many staff, so many square feet, then you have to have so many parking spaces for those individuals,” Reed said. “You can drive by here and there be nobody in the parking lot. That is not the issue. The only two issues are that I cannot park vehicles in spaces that should be reserved for patients and staff.”

After receiving federal funding to purchase two new medical vehicles, totaling close to $600,000, Reed needed to find space to house the vehicles without taking away spaces from those who use it daily.

The mobile units will travel to areas throughout the county providing medical assistance.

Both Reed and her staff are upset the community views ARMS as stealing this plot of land and not as part of the community outreach the medical units will be providing Anson County.

She discounted the suggestion that those businesses need those parking spaces during a pandemic when the small buildings should not be having more than two customers in at a time anyway. Pre-COVID, Reed didn’t believe there was a parking problem in Wadesboro either.

As ARMS is trying to use these vehicles to reach out further in the community, the medical facility is also working on getting COVID-19 rapid tests, but the process has been long.

Right now, ARMS is offering testing to only their patients.

After receiving federal funding of $140,000, Reed worked on writing a grant, submitting a budget and getting that budget approved, which she legally must do.

“The original intent on that money was to do drive-thru COVID testing,” Reed said. “We ordered rapid tests and they have yet to come.”

Reed wants to make sure those who were getting tested in the community were receiving those results immediately, but until the rapid test machines arrive, she has been referring people to the Anson County Health Department for testing.

The equipment is expected to come in the first weekend of October, according to Reed. The two testing machines Reed bought cost $10,000 and the 2,000 COVID-19 cost $65,000.

Like the delay on receiving COVID-19 testing equipment, protective equipment ordered through a $53,000 grant is slowly coming to ARMS as everything is backordered, according to Reed. Reed is still waiting on 42 boxes of gloves of the 50 total she ordered.

ARMS has received three different grants since March to fund protective equipment, mobile units, coronavirus testing and staffing, but the funding came a few weeks too late, forcing Reed had lay off employees.

Now, Reed is struggling to fill those vacancies, and if the community views ARMS in a negative light after taking away a parking lot, she is not sure how the medical facility will recover.

“I was going to open a pharmacy but if the community doesn’t think we’re useful here, we shouldn’t be doing a whole bunch of stuff,” Reed said. “There are other communities begging us to come.”