Patient numbers climb to new heights at McAuley Health Center
This fall, the McAuley Health Center reached a service milestone when the number of patients using the clinic increased by more than 500 in just one year’s time.
In the three years since its doors opened under the auspices of CHP’s McAuley School of Nursing, Detroit’s first nurse-managed center has built a client practice that serves more than 1,900 active patients with 50 percent insured and 50 percent uninsured.
Surpassing this number ranks high on Audrey Allen’s priority list as the center’s clinical coordinator and nurse practitioner. Allen, who formerly worked within the St. John Health System, has extensive health care clinic experience, which has helped prepare her for her role at the center.
“We are sending the message to the community that we are a conveniently located, primary care facility that offers them same day and same week appointments,” says Allen of the east side Detroit neighborhood they are targeting.
Specifically, she credits the marketing efforts of the nursing students from the College of Health Professions for more than doubling the amount of female patients visiting the center for cancer screening examinations. The students created, then distributed, informational fliers at churches and grocery stores, which directed women to the center for these important screenings.
Allen also looks forward to fulfilling a goal of the center’s action plan to hire an additional nurse practitioner and create more examining room space.