Pictured is Director of Community Development Candace Watkins; Chief Administrative Officer Jerry Graves Jr.; Business Development Manager Paul Crain; Corporate Manager Rachael Theriot; Operations Manager Don Fontenot; Chamber Chairwoman Jodie Lohfink; District D Councilman Casey Hunnicutt; Chamber Director Stephen Reuther.

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Prime Occupational Medicine, a Baton Rouge-based company specializing in heath care services, celebrated the opening of its new Chalmette location via a July 20 ribbon cutting ceremony.

The facility offers a wide range of medical testing and health screening programs that many refineries and plants may require of employees in order to start work. The new medical center is overseen by Dr. Luke Lee, an ABPM Board Certified physician.

How Prime Occupational Medicine differs from a standard primary care clinic is that its staff is trained in OSHA regulations and caters more to the working professional.

In addition to the standard workplace DISA drug and alcohol screening, Prime Occupational offers industry-specific exams such as respirator fit testing,  pulmonary function testing, and hearing conservation testing– many of which are basic OSHA compliance tests required of refinery and plant employees.

Being that St. Bernard Parish is home to several refineries and plants, Prime Occupational felt that it was only natural to expand their business to an industry-heavy parish.

“We have a prime location here between the two refineries,” said Rachael Theriot, Corporate Manager. “We do everything here from drug screening to fit testing to hazardous blood work testing– our dream is to have a full clinic here.”

The facility officially opened its doors April 1 and is currently up to 70 clients, according to Business Development Manager Paul Crain.

But Prime Occupational Medicine’s true calling card is their mobile clinic– essentially a health screening center on wheels. Mobile on-site services include drug and alcohol screening, audiometric exams, pulmonary testing, physicals, blood testings, flu shots and more.

“It’s really become a phenomenon and has doubled in business every year,” explained Crain. “We did 300 physicals in Lake Charles last year.”

Regular business hours are 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with 24 hour on-call services available.

Prime Occupational Medicine is located at 701 E. St. Bernard Hwy. in Chalmette.