UAMS Celebrates Opening of 12th Street Student-Led Community Health Center
| LITTLE ROCK – Students and faculty at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) today cut the ribbon and dedicated the 12th Street Health and Wellness Center, which will provide free health screenings and information to the minority community where the clinic is located.
The interdisciplinary center includes services by students and faculty across the UAMS colleges of Pharmacy, Medicine, Public Health, Nursing, Medicine and Health Professions. The center will be run by students and provide preventive health care, particularly heart health, as well as consultations and screenings for chronic health conditions and information for healthy living.
“This effort signifies everything that UAMS is about,” said UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D. “It brings together students and faculty from across campus and offers it directly where it’s needed most in the community. Our mission at UAMS is to make a difference in the delivery of health care to Arkansans, and this new center is an innovative bridge that enables us to do that.”
Lanita White, Pharm.D., director of the center, said she is proud of the effort across UAMS to come together to get the center renovated and ready for operation.
“Everyone has been very generous in donating supplies, time and effort to make this center a reality,” White said. “Today is just the first step in becoming a part of this community in a new way to improve the health and wellness of anyone who walks through our doors.”
The center, located at 12th and Cedar streets in midtown Little Rock, is in a building formerly housing Finnegan’s Pharmacy and more recently leased by USA Drug. The historic brick property was donated to the UAMS College of Pharmacy in 2011 by Vicki and Karrol Fowlkes, of Salem, both alumni who envisioned a student-led health and wellness clinic for the uninsured.
“It is very gratifying to help revitalize this area where I spent many hours working, and also where many past professors and students of the UAMS College of Pharmacy practiced,” Vicki Fowlkes said. “We are thrilled how it has come to fruition and anticipate the opportunity to watch the difference it can make within the community.”
Stephanie F. Gardner, Pharm.D., Ed.D, dean of the UAMS College of Pharmacy, said that educating students and making a difference in the community are the two hallmarks of this project.
“This project will provide great opportunities for our students to gain experience, while providing services for people in the area,” Gardner said. “It’s important to stress the collaborative aspect of this in educating students across UAMS and giving them experience outside of their classrooms.”
In addition to experiential education for UAMS students, the center’s creation also spawned a recently announced research collaboration between the UAMS Translational Research Institute and the William J. Clinton School of Public Service. The two entities work on a project titled, “Assessing the Health Needs of Individuals Living in the Little Rock 12th Street Community.”
“This research component will ensure that we’re achieving our goals to provide the services that this particular community needs most,” said Amy Franks, Pharm.D., who chairs the Department of Pharmacy Practice in the College of Pharmacy. “The educational possibilities of this center are already making an impact in classrooms, practice and in improving health care in Arkansas.”
UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. Named best Little Rock metropolitan area hospital by U.S. News & World Report, it is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has more than 2,800 students and 790 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,000 physicians and other professionals who provide care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS’ Area Health Education Centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com.