TTUHSC Founds New Community Health Center in Abilene

News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 31, 2015
CONTACT: Jessica Bagwell, Jessica.Bagwell@ttuhsc.edu
(806) 743-7610

TTUHSC Founds New Community Health Center in Abilene

The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Nursing announced the creation of the new TTUHSC Abilene Community Health Center, which will open in August 2015. The Health Resources and Services Administration awarded the center a grant to establish it as Abilene’s first federally qualified health center (FQHC).

“TTUHSC’s relationship with the Abilene community continues to thrive, and the new Abilene Community Health Center is a great testament to that,” said TTUHSC President Tedd L. Mitchell, M.D. “Centers like this one and its predecessor, the TTUHSC School of Nursing Larry Combest Community Health and Wellness Center in Lubbock, are an excellent resource to the common health of communities.”

The FQHC will specialize in primary care and management of chronic diseases for all ages. Care is provided by nurse practitioners and an Abilene medical director, and the health center is a clinical educational site for nursing, physician assistant and pharmacy faculty and students. A sliding fee scale is available for income eligible patients. No one will be turned away due to inability to pay.

The TTUHSC School of Nursing Abilene Community Health Center will be working in an effort to reduce diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease rates in Abilene. The center also offers a variety of primary care services. Randy Neugebauer, member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Texas’ 19th congressional district, has lent his ongoing support to the development of the center as a means of improving the health of the Abilene community.

“The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center’s new Community Health Center in Abilene will offer many individuals and families greater access to quality health care,” Neugebauer said. “I am proud of TTUHSC’s expanding presence in the Abilene community and look forward to the many benefits this will bring.”

For more information about the Abilene Community Health Center, call Pearl Merritt, Ed.D., MSN, FAAN, regional dean and professor for the School of Nursing in Abilene, at (325) 696-0500 or Linda McMurry, DNP, R.N., NEA-BC, executive director of the TTUHSC Larry Combest Community Health and Wellness Center, at (806) 743-9571.

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