To fill a decades-old health care gap in the Belle Meade community near Interstate 85 and Augusta Road, residents and local leaders gathered Sept. 12 to celebrate the launch of the Unity Health Wellness Hub on the campus of Upstate Circle of Friends.
The new clinic on the campus at 29 Ridgeway Drive was made possible by a $1.4 million, three-year Healthy Greenville grant awarded to Unity Health on Main, Upstate Circle of Friends, Just Say Something and community partners including Upstate American Heart Association.
Filling the gap
Long considered a health care desert, the Belle Meade community – and District 25 more broadly – will now have access to a range of physical and mental health services through the hub.
The wellness hub will be a “sanctuary of health and healing,” said Deloris Pinson, founder and CEO of Upstate Circle of Friends.
Spearheaded by Unity Health on Main, founded in 2016 to meet critical gaps in health care in underserved communities, the Unity Health Wellness Hub is part of a wider effort to bring health resources to every pocket of the county, said Phillip Liston, President of the Greenville Health Authority.
He said the GHA board has awarded about $340 million in Healthy Greenville grants to more than 140 organizations since 2017 but rarely has a grant been so perfectly aligned with the authority’s goal of providing sufficient health resources to every community and resident.
“This is a great day for our community and particularly the residents of District 25,” Liston said.
Holistic health care
Area residents will have a range of medical and mental health services aimed at basic wellness, preventive care and whole-body wellness, regardless of ability to pay.
“The Unity Health Wellness Hub represents a beacon of hope for all of District 25,” said Norma Jean Suarez, executive director of Unity Health on Main. “It represents a future where families no longer have to navigate a health desert and where access to essential medical, mental and wellness care is no longer a barrier.”
Access to mental health services is of particular importance in a part of the county where the grinding toll of poverty places tremendous daily strain on families, said Rep. Wendell Jones (D-Greenville).
“The stresses of poverty, the weight of economic struggle and the lack of resources have taken a toll on our people,” Jones said. “That’s why mental health services are not optional — they are essential.”
He added that access to adequate medical and mental health services are fundamental to advancing the economic health of individuals and families.
For more information about services provided by Unity Health on Main through the wellness hub, visit unityhealthonmain.org. For more information about services provided by Upstate Circle of Friends, visit ufcgreenville.org.
