Beatty Medical Clinic

Overview:
Nevada Health Centers operates 21 medical and dental sites including a Health Care for the Homeless Program, a School Based Health Program and an OB/GYN Center.  In addition we operate three Miles for Smiles Buses, the Mammovan, two WIC sites and a Community Health Pharmacy.

Beatty Medical Clinic, located in Nye County, was one of the first sites to open in 1977 and has been serving the community with quality health care since.

NVHC works closely with the Beatty Health and Welfare Board and Nye County to insure the medical needs of the community are being met. The clinic providers are on call 24 hours a day for emergencies and have a landing pad to allow for helicopter access.

Target Population— Beatty’s population is approximately 1,100 people.

Services Provided— Family Medicine, Women’s Health, Pediatrics, D.O.T. Physicals, Occupational Health, STD/HIV Education & Screening, Family Planning, Urgent Care & 24 Hour Emergency Care, Lab, X-Ray, Prescription Dispensary, Periodic Screenings for Kids & Adults, Well-Child Care and Immunizations, Prenatal and Newborn Care, Chronic Illness Management, Health Education.

Staffing:
Beatty is staffed with one physician and one Physician Assistant (PA-C) There are two back office and two front office support staff.

Federal Designation:  HPSA, MUP

Patient Profile for 2004 – Ethnic Groups served (top 3): Caucasian (80%), Hispanic (9%), African American 1%).

Funding:

A History of Beatty - - - Provided by Dr. Suresh Prabhu
 

Beatty, known as the "GATEWAY TO DEATH VALLEY" is 6 miles from the Nevada/California border, 120 miles north of Las Vegas and 330 miles south of Reno. Our town is nestled in the "Oasis Valley", on the banks of the Amargosa River, the longest underground river in USA. It is very close to Death Valley which has the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere and is only 60 air miles from Mount Whitney which is highest point in the lower contiguous states.

Beatty is bordered by three peaks:
Bare Mountain, Sawtooth Mountain and Bullfrog Hill.

In historic times Oasis Valley was used by the native Shoshone Indians as a stopover during their nomadic travels from Death Valley to the mountains. The Oasis Valley and Beatty vicinity remained isolated and unsettled by whites until the 1870's. Eugene Lander a prospector from San Bernardino is usually credited with being the first white settler in the Beatty area. Lander started a small ranch in 1879 in Oasis valley just north of the present site of Beatty. He stayed a couple of years and when he moved on, his old partner Bill Stockton acquired it. Later it was acquired by Montillus Beatty. In 1895, John Howell, the only black rancher in area, built his ranch close to the Beatty ranch. The Montgomery brothers started the 'Great Gold Boom' in the Death Valley area in the early 1900's. In late summer of 1904, "Shorty" Harris and Ed Cross discovered gold near Buck Spring in the Bullfrog Hills and thus began the "Bullfrog Gold Rush".

With their discovery, the desert went wild with prospectors, building the cities of Rhyolite, Bullfrog and Pioneer. Bob Montgomery staked out a town site just south of Beatty Ranch and called it "Beatty" after "Old Man" Beatty (Montillus Murray Beatty). Old Man Montillus Beatty was a native of Iowa who enlisted in Union Army. He was later discharged because of a disability. He came west after the Civil War, acquired the Lander Ranch, married a full-blooded Paiute woman, had at least 3 children and was Beatty's first postmaster when the post office opened January 19,1905 (although he could neither read nor write anything except his name).

He died in December 1908 and Mrs. Beatty died in 1910.

The golden years lasted but a short time and all the camps began to die out around 1910. By the 1920's, the only town still alive was "Beatty", the smallest of the group, which at that time was basically nothing more than a supply depo for all the camps and mines in the adjoining areas.

In Summary, Beatty is a tough little town that has survived through two gold rushes, the one from 1904 to 1910 and one as recent as 1987 to 1999. Although Beatty is a small community not known for its wealth, it has the reputation, of which its residents are very proud, of being a "Caring Town". Growing and shrinking according to needs of the people, this quaint crossroads town continues to thrive with visitors to Death Valley and travelers up and down US-95 who find us a "WELCOME STOP".

ATTRACTIONS AROUND BEATTY:
* Death Valley National Park
* Scotty's Castle
* Rhyolite ghost town, Bottle House
* Titus Canyon (4x4 path)

EVENTS FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY:
* Friends of Rhyolite Festival
* Beatty Railroad Days
* Burro Races