VIDALIA, La. &045; Equipment is still being installed and floors refinished, but a few patients had a chance Monday to see the new offices at the Riverpark Medical Center &045; and to see the view.

&uot;I think the quote of the day was from a father who was here with his two children,&uot; said Dr. John White of the Head and Neck Clinic. &uot;When the nurse came to get him he said, ‘We were kind of hoping you wouldn’t call our name.’&uot;

The view from White’s waiting room looks over the Mississippi River, with chairs facing a wide swath of floor-to-ceiling windows.

White and Dr. Rus Fairbanks saw patients at the new riverside outpatient clinic, which will eventually be home to seven physicians, including a new neurologist.

&uot;It is a dream come true,&uot; White said, in between seeing patients and opening a bottle of Champagne to celebrate the first day.

&uot;We moved the office in a day and a half and went on vacation,&uot; he said. &uot;I think everyone was wondering what we would come back to on Monday.&uot;

Phones and computers were still being installed and connected, but the imaging center at the clinic is up and running, White said. That center will offer outpatient MRIs, digital mammograms and CT scans.

&uot;What we’re putting in is state-of-the-art (equipment),&uot; White said.

The physicians hope to set up a computer system that allows them to connect to the imaging center so they can view test results with patients in their offices.

Riverpark hopes to have an official grand opening soon, once work is completed on all of the doctors’ offices.

Riverpark Medical Center, an ambulatory surgical center, is just the latest development at the Vidalia Landing site.

Other developments have included a walking path, an amphitheater, Lorraine’s Restaurant and a Comfort Suites Hotel north of the river bridge and an RV Park south of the bridge.

Last month ground was broken for the $3.5 million Vidalia Gateway and Welcome Center that will be located north of the bridge near the surgical center.

Construction of that center is expected to begin next year and be completed in 2005.