The Camellia Foundation is converting a former Denny’s in Hickory Hill into a full-service medical clinic with plans to open more locations in underserved communities in the next few years.

Operating as Rodney Private Investments, it recently secured a $2.6 million loan from First State Bank to buy the property at 7065 Winchester Road with $1 million of that going to construction improvements.

The 6,018-square-foot building with a 500-square-foot patio sits on 1.3 acres across from a Chick-fil-A. They hope to be open by early December.

The Camellia Foundation operates several locations under the umbrella of Medicos Medical Center, known colloquially as Medicos, which is Spanish for “doctors.”

This location will operate as Medicos Medical Center, similar to their clinic in North Memphis. It also operates Clinica Medicos and Clinica Camellia as well as Medicos Behavioral Health for psychiatry, counseling and substance-use treatment, all on Covington Pike.

“We have so many different lines of service,” said Dr. John Rodney, the foundation’s president. “As a whole, we see almost 60,000 patients per year.”

They also have an active maternity-care line of service, providing deliveries at different area hospitals, including St. Francis. The organization delivers more than 1,500 babies annually.

In the late 1990s, Rodney’s parents mortgaged their house to open a 4,000-square-foot clinic in Raleigh, primarily for uninsured Hispanic women to get free prenatal care. His sister runs a clinic in Chattanooga.

“Our patient target is really maternal-child health to where we really want to take care of families with women of reproductive age and children to kind of help them navigate raising a family,” Rodney said. “It’s healthy baby, healthy mother, healthy family, healthy community because we feel like centering our care-service lines around birthing and developing young children has profound impact on the stability of a family and then has benefits within our community.”

The organization’s patient group has diversified as they’ve added locations and services. Now, less than half their patients are Hispanic.

“Our mission statement includes anybody who walks through our door,” Rodney said. “They will get help regardless of their ability to pay, and it has nothing to do with age, gender, religion, creed or ethnicity. We just want to take good care of people who are in need.”

The Camellia Foundation did a needs assessment based on their patient volume from 2025. That led them to their newest clinic.

“We were surprised that Hickory Hill was our No. 3 area code, which represents a 25-minute drive from our location in Raleigh,” Rodney said.

Rodney likes that the location is near lots of retailers, including the Winchester Farmers Market, Aldi, Walmart and Sam’s.

“We know many of our patients go to those places to shop,” he said. “It’s a really good high-volume traffic area where we know our patients are already going.”

There’s also a charter school nearby.

“We know there’re going to be a lot of kids and families passing through there,” Rodney said. “They’re going to vaccinations, sports physicals and just a variety of other things that happen to kids and families through the process of just going through school system.”

The site has 271 parking spaces, enough for staff on the side and patients in the front.

“One thing that a lot of people don’t like is not having a place to park,” Rodney said.

Walker General Contractors is handling the buildout, which includes everything from making the property Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant to replacing booths and restaurant equipment with X-ray machines and ultrasound equipment. They plan on offering a wide range of services.

“Our goal is to do as much as humanly possible under one roof to minimize the inconvenience of the patients going to a doctor’s office only to be told they have to go to another doctor’s office,” Rodney said.

The Camellia Foundation gets funding from foundations and private donations but works towards being self-sufficient.

“I think we want to have operational efficiency,” he said. “We want to provide good service, but we also don’t want to be just dependent on wonderful, generous people forever. We want to build something that has a lasting, self-sustaining impact, and where we need help with that is usually in the first two years.”

Barry Maynard, a senior vice president of brokerage with Gill Properties, is a vice chairman on the Las Medicos board. He hopes to add 10 more of these types of clinics in the next few years. The organization owns its own real estate.

“There is no medical clinic that does more with less than Medicos Medical Centers,” he said. “A mini medical hospital will be a tremendous asset for Memphis because it expands access to affordable, high-quality healthcare in underserved communities.

“With many families facing financial barriers and limited access to medical services, a neighborhood-based facility can provide timely treatment, reduce unnecessary emergency room visits and improve the overall health and well-being of our city’s residents.”