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A UAMS student performs an ultrasound with one of the new imaging machines.
Image by Andrew Vogler
UAMS 12th Street Health & Wellness Center Receives $195,655 Grant from Methodist Foundation for Arkansas
| LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ (UAMS) 12th Street Health & Wellness Center received a grant for $195,655 from the Methodist Foundation for Arkansas. With the grant, UAMS will purchase essential imaging equipment for the clinic.
Located in Little Rock’s 12th Street corridor, just south of the UAMS’ main campus, the 12th Street Health & Wellness Center is a community-based, student-led, interprofessional clinic that provides free health screenings and health management services for people in the community. Students from UAMS’ five colleges and graduate school staff the clinic.
Since 2018, the center has provided free medical care to more than 7,000 patients from the local community who might otherwise not be able afford necessary care. In 2022 alone, the center treated 800 individual patients and logged more than 59,000 volunteer hours from hundreds of students.
“I am so grateful for the Methodist Foundation for Arkansas’ continued philanthropy which, since 1989, has benefitted various areas at UAMS, helping us to realize our vision to become the healthiest state in the region by 2029,” said Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, UAMS chancellor and CEO of UAMS Health. “This most recent gift will make a huge impact, dramatically improving the health and wellness of the people in Little Rock’s 12th Street corridor.”
Founded in 1963, the Methodist Foundation for Arkansas is a nonprofit organization that serves Methodist churches, institutions and individuals in Arkansas. In 2022, it distributed nearly $6 million to its local churches, institutional clients and grant recipients. These distributions included more than $1.8 million awarded to 350 individual grants in high-priority areas like community health, food insecurity and clergy education.
“The Methodist Foundation for Arkansas is pleased to be a partner with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the 12th Street Health & Wellness Center in Little Rock,” said J. Wayne Clark, president and CEO of the Methodist Foundation for Arkansas. “Building on the great legacy of UAMS and its commitment to improving the health of our neighbors, this grant will be a tremendous service to our community in Arkansas and beyond.”
The 12th Street Health & Wellness Center was established in 2013 following a donation of the building by Vicki Fowlkes and Karrol Fowlkes, Pharm.D., to the UAMS College of Pharmacy. Stephanie Gardner, Pharm. D., Ed.D., UAMS provost and chief strategy officer, led the initial effort to establish the center. In January 2019, Melissa Halverson, Pharm.D., MPH, became director of the clinic. Under Halverson’s leadership, the clinic is now guided by a community advisory board and a student board of directors.
“For the past 10 years, the 12th Street Health & Wellness Center has partnered with students, community members and volunteers to create a transformative patient-centered environment providing exceptional clinical care and educational opportunities,” said Halverson. “With partners like the Methodist Foundation for Arkansas, we can expand our services for our patients and interprofessional learning opportunities for our students while continuing our legacy of providing quality care in the community.”
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,275 students, 890 medical residents and fellows, and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.###