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FORT SMITH -  More than a dozen golden shovels turned dirt marking the start of work on a $10.5 million UAMS Family Medical Center at the corner of South 12th and South E streets in Fort Smith.

State legislators, local dignitaries, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Chancellor Dan Rahn, MD, and Don Heard, EdD, MBA., UAMS West center director spoke.UAMS officials wearing hard hats broke ground on the project that will create a new, 30,000-square-foot Family Medical Center at UAMS West. The new facility will provide space for the growth and enhancement of patient care programs and medical education.

One block from the current facility at 612 S. 12th St., the new building will provide UAMS patients, residents and staff with a state-of-the-art outpatient clinic that includes 48 examination rooms, x-ray facilities, a laboratory, procedure areas, patient counseling rooms and a children’s immunization area.

The new Fort Smith Family Medical Center will be located three blocks from Sparks Regional Medical Center, the teaching hospital affiliated with UAMS West.

Other dignitaries at the groundbreaking included Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders; Dan McKay, Sparks Health System CEO; Jeremy Drinkwitz, Sparks chief operating officer;  Tim Hill, vice chancellor for UAMS Regional Programs; Mark Kenneday, UAMS vice chancellor for campus operations; and other state and local officials.

The construction is scheduled to be complete in 10 months. The architects are Witsell, Evans, Rasco of Little Rock, working in collaboration with HDR of Dallas, Texas. The general contractor is Kinco Constructors of Little Rock.

Once the new facility is completed, UAMS West will remodel sections of its building at 612 S. 12th St. to accommodate administrative, financial, and education needs. It has been at that location since 1992. It expanded there in 2007 and purchased a small, 4,500-square-foot clinic in 2011.

The remodeling project is expected to take four months and will be completed sometime in 2017. Together, the two projects — the new building and the remodeling — will more than double the interior space available for UAMS West, providing growing room for the next 15-20 years.

Fort Smith Family Medical Center provides primary care medical services to patients of all ages. The center also offers pediatric and obstetrical care, as well as treatment of immediate medical needs and ongoing management of chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes, hypertension and arthritis. The clinic provides convenient diagnostic and support services on site and minor surgical procedures.

It serves 13 Arkansas counties: Conway, Crawford, Faulkner, Franklin, Johnson, Logan, Perry, Polk, Montgomery, Pope, Sebastian, Scott and Yell.