PRICEVILLE — Somerville residents Mary and John Malone spent a lot of time traveling to doctors’ offices in Decatur for checkups.

But with the opening of NC Health Care Clinic LLC in Priceville, Mary Malone, 68, said they cut their driving distance in half.

“I have a condition that has to be checked every month to make sure blood thinner is within a certain range,” she said. “John, who is 71, is diabetic and goes to the clinic for monitoring. We both have had good experiences there. They are efficient, and we don’t have to wait.”

Decatur Morgan Hospital, formerly Decatur General, opened Priceville Family Medicine in the building at 68 Marco Drive in 2003. After the hospital closed, the business — Southern Rural Health Care — acquired the lease on the building and opened a practice. It, too, was short-lived. For the past several years, the building stood vacant.

Clay New of Decatur, who owns Elder Care of North Alabama, said he heard in February that some in the medical profession were looking for jobs.

“I was trying to respond to a need, and it turned into supplying a medical service to people in the eastern part of Morgan County,” he said.

New said the county had no clinics east of Interstate 65. He began looking for a building and found the one in Priceville.

“I thought it was the perfect fit since Priceville is the fastest-growing city in the county,” New said.

Rex Cheatham of Decatur, UniServe director for the Alabama Education Association in Huntsville, and his son Rex Jr. became investors in the business. Thus the company name — NC Health Care — with New serving as president.

Charles Misori of Huntsville, a native of Cameroon in Central Africa, is nurse practitioner at the primary care facility. He came to the United States in 1985 and earned an undergraduate degree at the University of North Alabama in 2000. He acquired a post master’s degree in nursing at the University of Alabama at Huntsville in 2004. He is pursuing a doctorate in Health Services Research, with an emphasis on community health.

Misori, 53, who has worked at clinics in Birmingham, Decatur, Town Creek and Nashville, came to Priceville from the Family Health Care Clinic in Decatur.

“We manage chronic illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and any primary care problem,” Misori said. “We do immunizations, preventive screening and tests, and sports and extracurricular physicals.”

Misori said NC Health Care, which celebrated its grand opening Aug. 12, works with all age groups, starting with 2-year-olds.

“We don’t do surgery, and if someone comes in suffering from a heart attack, we stabilize the patient and call an ambulance,” he said.

Beth Coggins of Decatur serves the clinic as a registered nurse. A graduate of Calhoun Community College, she has worked at Huntsville Hospital and Crestwood Medical Center. She served three years as a school nurse for Huntsville city schools.

“I love my job and I love working with patients,” said Coggins, who lives nearby. “Through nursing, I’m able to provide a service that I know is really needed in this community and surrounding communities.”

Dr. Edwin Matthews, who is associated with Gill Family Medicine of Decatur, is the collaborating physician at the clinic.

“On Thursday afternoons, I read charts and supervise the nurse practitioner,” Matthews said. “I do not see patients, but I’m in charge of making medical decisions at the practice.”

Matthews said the clinic “offers a great opportunity for residents in the Priceville area to have a local practitioner to meet their health care needs. Charles is an excellent nurse practitioner, and I think he will do well in that location.”