Inside the new Cooper Green clinic, opening in Birmingham mid-December

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medical clinic
New Cooper Green Medical Clinic. (Sunny Nguyen / Bham Now)

A little more than two years ago, Cooper Green Mercy Health Services Authority—an affiliate of UAB Health System—broke ground on the new facility at the site of the former parking deck.

Now, the new $120 million, state-of-the-art Cooper Green medical clinic is slated to open in mid-December.

This week, Bham Now took a tour of the new building.

Read on to learn about the much-anticipated new and improved Cooper Green.

About Cooper Green Mercy Health

Cooper Green
David Randall, CEO, Cooper Green Mercy Health Services Authority. (Sunny Nguyen / Bham Now)

A vitally important community hospital and medical clinic, Cooper Green was first called Mercy Hospital when it opened 50 years ago in 1972 as a 319-bed acute care clinic.

Owned by Jefferson County, the hospital provided medical services to all residents of the county—regardless of their ability to pay. 

Under an agreement between Jefferson County and the UAB Health System, the Cooper Green Mercy Health Services Authority was created to manage Cooper Green in April 2020. 

Cooper Green
(Sunny Nguyen / Bham Now)

Since then, the authority has constructed the new facility to replace the original building, which dates to the early 1970s. The aging building is no longer suited to deliver modern ambulatory health care.

David Randall, CEO of Cooper Green Mercy Health Services Authority, told Bham Now that the new clinic is designed with the employees and patients in mind.

“This marks another milestone, a promise fulfilled, which is the opening of the clinic. 

Maybe I’m biased, but I would say this is the nicest healthcare facility in Birmingham and not just because it’s new, but because of how it was designed and built; focusing on the employees that work here and the patients we serve.”

David Randall, Cooper Green Mercy Health Services Authority

About the new Cooper Green clinic

entrance hospital
Front entrance of the new Cooper Green Mercy Health. (Pat Byington /Bham Now)

“I believe that what we’re building here will truly be a national benchmark or a model for others and how we can improve the health and lives in the communities and the individuals that we serve.”

David Randall, Cooper Green Mercy Health Services Authority

Located at 1509 Sixth Avenue South, the new 211,000-square-foot, five-story clinic provides full-service outpatient care that includes:

  • Primary and specialty care clinics
  • Urgent care
  • Physical, occupational and speech therapy
  • Laboratory services 
  • Imaging 
  • Pharmacy
  • Dental and eye services

“I’m most excited about our physical therapy space, which, quite frankly, I would like to go and use and work out. It includes both an indoor and an outdoor space.”

David Randall, Cooper Green Mercy Health Services Authority

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Pat Byington
Pat Byington

Longtime conservationist. Former Executive Director at the Alabama Environmental Council and Wild South. Publisher of the Bama Environmental News for more than 18 years. Career highlights include playing an active role in the creation of Alabama's Forever Wild program, Little River Canyon National Preserve, Dugger Mountain Wilderness, preservation of special places throughout the East through the Wilderness Society and the strengthening (making more stringent) the state of Alabama's cancer risk and mercury standards.

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