UTHSC to launch health hub in Soulsville that could serve thousands. Here's what it will offer

During their second year of medical school at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Lauren Wideman and Abe Almatari noticed something. While the institution offered a variety of health services throughout Memphis, it didn’t have much of a presence in the historic Soulsville neighborhood ― which was in desperate need of convenient and affordable healthcare options.

So, in coordination with UTHSC, they launched the Soulsville Health Outreach Program, aka “SHOP.”

The group began holding monthly health outreach events at Memphis Rox, the nonprofit climbing gym in the neighborhood, where both Wideman and Almatari were already regulars. They offered COVID-19 and flu vaccines. They did blood pressure and blood glucose screenings. They engaged with community members who could provide additional services, like HIV screenings and mental health check-ins.

To Wideman and Almatari, the work was exciting, and they envisioned SHOP becoming something bigger ― even if they didn’t expect it to happen immediately.

"It was our third or fourth event, and I was like, ‘We should start an entire clinic,'” Almatari told The Commercial Appeal. “And (Lauren) was like, ‘baby steps, baby steps.’”

Those baby steps, however, turned into leaps. Dr. Austin Dalgo, an associate professor of Pediatrics at UTHSC, got involved with SHOP, and from there, more participation from prominent professionals and community organizations came.

Now, about two years after Wideman and Almatari started the outreach program, it’s turning into a health hub, which is poised to serve thousands of people in the Soulsville neighborhood over the next few years.

'Full of possibility'

In partnership with the Kemmons Wilson Family Foundation and Soulsville Foundation, UTHSC is launching the UTHSC Health Hub: Soulsville, which is expected to offer healthcare services to residents in the Soulsville neighborhood. The hub was announced during an event Tuesday at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, where UTHSC Chancellor Peter Buckley and Kemmons Wilson Family Foundation CEO Tate Wilson both spoke.

The hub is set to be located at 870 E. McLemore Ave. – just down the street from the Stax Museum ― and during her remarks, Wilson noted its adjacency to Soulsville Charter School, Memphis Delta Prep, and LeMoyne-Owen College. The schools’ students, she explained, could benefit from the hub.

“There are thousands of students within a half mile of this spot, every single weekday. Those students are the future of Memphis,” she said. “They’re full of possibility, just like my own kids… They deserve access to everything they need to thrive. We know the health hub is just one piece of this puzzle. But health is foundational to opportunity. Without good health, it’s almost impossible to achieve your dreams.”

The hub is also expected to support more than just the students. Dr. Jim Bailey, the Robert S. Pearce Endowed Chair in Internal Medicine at UTHSC, told The CA after the event that the hub was expected to serve 5,000 to 10,000 people over the next three years, in a variety of ways.

For example, services will include health coaching, school nursing, youth intervention specialists ― for at-risk students with behavioral health needs ― and mental health counseling, which is slated to start in the hub’s second year.

Health coaching, Bailey explained, is set to play a major role.

“We really are focusing on helping empower people through this… evidence-based counseling technique, for helping people take charge of their own health," Bailey said.

The third hub

The Soulsville health hub isn’t unprecedented for UTHSC. Already, it’s opened a health hub in Uptown, located at 534 N. Second St., and ShelbyCares on 3^rd, located at 3358 S. 3rd St. in the Westwood neighborhood. These facilities have served more than 1,000 patients and seen more than 2,000 individual coaching visits.

The new health hub is expected to open this summer in a temporary space in the Soulsville neighborhood, while its permanent spot at 870 E. McLemore Ave. undergoes renovations, which are set to be completed in time for it to open in the fall.

More: This Memphis area hospital is giving high schoolers an inside look at healthcare jobs. Here's how.

Wideman and Almatari won’t be there, as they’re now fourth-year medical students, and their time in Memphis is winding down. Wideman is set to move to Knoxville for residency, while Almatari will be moving to New Orleans for his.

Still, they’re excited that the group they started is turning into a health hub with the potential to help thousands.

“It's really sweet, and I hope that we can do this where we go for residency,” Almatari said. “I'd love to get something like this started in Louisiana.”

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: University of Tennessee Health Science Center launching Soulsville health hub