Health officials and residents of Southeast Austin will celebrate the grand opening of the completed Southeast Health and Wellness Center on Feb. 20 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
The first phase of the center opened in November 2014 and has offered primary care, behavioral health and dental services at 2901 Montopolis Drive for uninsured or low-income patients. The final phase will offer community wellness components, such as an educational garden; a kitchen with nutrition and cooking classes; exercise classes; and conference rooms available to nonprofits and community groups at no charge, center Program Manager Elizabeth Marrero said.
“It’s a very open space, [and] it’s very workable for a lot of different things and ideas and groups,” she said.
The grand opening celebration will include music, food, games and prizes. A representative from the White House is scheduled to attend with a statement from President Barack Obama, Marrero said.
She said the event would also include a teddy bear clinic, in which children are given a teddy bear and can watch as doctors and nurses on-site diagnose the bear and perform medical treatment. She said it makes children more comfortable with seeing a doctor.
“The kids really enjoy it,” she said.
Representatives of The University of Texas Dell Medical School will also be on-site to talk to teenagers at the Teen Tech and Career Center about careers in medicine, Marrero said. The teen center will also host an iPad giveaway, she said.
“This is a way to thank the community,” Marrero said of the grand opening. “This is really their center.”
Marrero said the community surrounding the center is largely immigrant and low-income.
“This is a way to thank the community. This is really their center.”
– Elizabeth Marrero, program manager
“It’s a very young part of the city that’s not always connected with health services,” she said. “It’s one of the highest diabetic areas in Austin. … We also see a lot of juvenile diabetes.”
Marrero said Central Health aims to make a dramatic different in the health of the Southeast Austin population, and it expects to see 80,000 patient visits at the center this year. Central Health also plans to partner with local organizations such as Capital Area Food Bank of Texas and the YMCA to expand its services, she said.
Central Health owns the property on which the wellness center sits and manages operations; CommUnityCare, a nonprofit corporation of health centers, provides patients with health services.
The center also offers services for family medicine, behavioral health and specialties such pulmonology and gastroenterology. It also has an on-site pharmacy. The second and final phase expands services to include radiology, a laboratory and health care navigation support in addition to preventive wellness programs.
