Katie Darnell was named an ambassador for Vanderbilt Children's Hospital at the Children's Miracle Network kickoff event on Monday. She sang her song "Rescue Me" at the White House on Wednesday. The group will also travel to Disney World for a weekend of fun with other CMN champions. (photo by Dana Johnson)
Vine Hill Clinic expands hours
Beginning in July, the Vine Hill Clinic will give its patients a prescription to help relieve one of the largest health care concerns in the area: access.
The clinic will expand its hours to include evenings and weekends – an option highly revered by patients.
The change is a response to the growing needs of the Vine Hill community as well as the billowing patient rolls expected from the upcoming TennCare enrollment.
Vine Hill’s success as a primary care site has created a solid relationship between the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency and the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, according to Bonnie Pilon, associate dean for practice at VUSN.
“The School of Nursing Faculty nurse practitioners and midwives at Vine Hill have delivered primary care in a cost efficient manner for a number of years,” Pilon said. “Our patients report high levels of satisfaction with care and services. In addition, we monitor patient outcomes for quality.”
For more than 11 years, VUSN has successfully run a clinic in the Vine Hill area, located in an under served and isolated area with a large population of elderly and disabled. The clinic opened in 1990 with a grant from the Kellogg Foundation.
Last summer the clinic moved into the 22,000-square-foot community center which sits among a $18 million redevelopment project that brought 76 duplexes and 18 single-family homes to the site.
“The clinic is an integral part of this community and its location in the community center demonstrates its importance to the neighborhood,” Pilon said. “The School of Nursing has had a great working relationship with MDHA to operate this clinic and we are working closely with them to offer clinic service to other under served MDHA neighborhoods.”
MDHA and School of Nursing officials are actively exploring sites showing a need for on-site health care services. VUSN’s next clinic site will be Parthenon Towers, which houses a predominately elderly population. Officials expect the clinic to operate two days a week.