The Western Tidewater Free Clinic is on the hunt for a new executive director.

Miriam Beiler, who has been the executive director of the clinic the past six years, has given notice that she will move to Pennsylvania to spend more time with her mother, who recently turned 96.

“I just had a feeling I need to spend more time with her,” Beiler said of a visit a few months ago. “I’m sorry to leave the clinic. We have some exciting things coming up I would like to be a part of, but I know they will be carried out by our board and staff.”

Beiler said her years at the clinic involved “some challenges and lots of rewards.”

Board Chairman Stephie Broadwater praised Beiler. She was involved in the transition to electronic medical records, adding eye care, and expanding behavioral health and pharmacy services at the free clinic, which serves residents of Suffolk and Western Tidewater who live at or below twice the federal poverty level and have no health insurance.

Beiler was involved in the hiring of most of the current management at the clinic, Broadwater noted, and the budget increased by 50 percent in her time.

“She has been a very excellent steward of our financial resources,” Broadwater said.

Beiler said she enjoyed being part of a community that supported the clinic’s work.

“There’s a strong neighbor-taking-care-of-neighbor kind of commitment,” Beiler said. “We wouldn’t have a $1.5-million budget if you didn’t have people in town who believed in it.”

Broadwater said the board appreciated Beiler’s ability to give about four months’ notice, which enables them to take their time selecting the right candidate. She said the job opening has been advertised in several different venues, and the application period closes March 22.

“It’s not a bad response for this type of position,” she said of the applications received so far. She said the candidates are promising.

“We’re very hopeful,” she added. The ideal situation is to have the new candidate in place two or three weeks before Beiler leaves at the end of May, she said.

For more information on the clinic, visit www.wtfreeclinic.org.