03/10/2005 Bolivar Peninsula clinic to open in early April By:CHRISTINE RAPPLEYE , The Enterprise The lone medical clinic on Bolivar Peninsula will reopen April 4 as St. Christopher Medical Clinic, said Joan Mitchell, the clinic's nurse. The clinic, formerly known as the Rollo Family Practice, closed in December after Dr. Robert Rollo, who owned clinics on Bolivar and in Winnie, sold the one in Winnie to Danny Thompson, a physician's assistant. About 20 different doctors' groups from Lufkin, Houston, Galveston and Beaumont looked at the clinic before a "Beaumont group involved in medical enterprises" decided to run it, Mitchell said, adding the company wanted to be anonymous. Dr. Phillip Ward of Anahuac, an osteopath, will be the supervising doctor, said Mitchell. Mitchell and her husband, Bruce, the clinic's physician's assistant, both worked at the clinic. But the name isn't the only change. Joan Mitchell said volunteers are remodeling the clinic and area businesses have been donating supplies, money and time. She's ready to go back to the peninsula. "I've seen people admitted to the hospital that could have been kept out if the clinic had been open," she said. Gilchrist resident Eddie Oehlers said he's been holding off going to the doctor for his sinuses until the clinic reopened. He had his prescription filled right before the clinic closed. The nearest hospitals are in Winnie and Galveston. The clinic was built more than two decades ago with money raised by the community. Several doctors and medical groups have run the clinic during that time. Rollo took over in 2000. Reach this reporter at: (409) 833-3311, ext. 416 rappleye@beaumontenterprise.com