Larry Combest Community Health and Wellness Center Hosts Information Fair and Fundraiser

• By Jessica Bagwell
• June 1, 2016

The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) Larry Combest Community Health and Wellness Center hosted an awareness event and fundraiser to show the community the services the center provides. A silent auction was held to support the center’s community outreach programs, including food vouchers and rides for patients to center appointments.

 

The Larry Combest Community Health and Wellness Center is now the base for three clinics, including Combest Sunrise Canyon Clinic and Abilene Community Health Center. All three centers are federally qualified health centers (FQHC) specializing in primary health care and offer clinical education experiences for students and faculty practice in effective delivery of health care services. Attendants toured various booths to learn more about the center’s mission to provide comprehensive health services to those in need, reduce or eliminate health disparities among high-risk populations and integrate student clinical experience and faculty practices in effective health care. 

 

“The center was originally started in 1998 as a mission to the medically underserved in East Lubbock, including patients who did not have insurance and were in need of health care,” said Linda McMurry, DNP, R.N., executive director of the Larry Combest Community Health and Wellness Center.

 

McMurry explained that since its establishment, the center has grown to provide new and innovative programs at all three centers and to both the Lubbock and Abilene communities. Both the type of programs and the way the center operates make it a unique asset for West Texas.

 

“The nurse-managed model is unique in West Texas, although much more common in the eastern part of the United States,” McMurry said. “We’ve developed chronic disease management guidelines for our patients with diabetes, hypertension, congestive heart failure, and we have the only accredited diabetes education center in Lubbock. We also have our senior house calls program.”

 

The Larry Combest Community Health and Wellness Center works to increase access to quality health care by offering rides for established patients without other means of transportation. For many patients, this service makes it possible to keep appointments, which is critically important in monitoring and treating conditions like diabetes. The center also addresses another obstacle to healthy living, hunger, by providing food vouchers to eligible patients. Access to food enables these Larry Combest Community Healthy Wellness Center patients to live healthier lives.

 

In addition to these services, the Larry Combest Community Health and Wellness Center provides payment options that help the uninsured or others that have trouble paying for health care.

 

“We accept Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance,” McMurry said. “Also, a sliding fee scale is available for income eligible patients. No one will be turned away due to inability to pay.”