McAuley Health Center addresses health care needs of underserved
In the three years since its doors opened under the auspices of University of Detroit Mercy's McAuley School of Nursing, McAuley Health Center – Detroit's first nurse-managed center – has grown to handle nearly 3,000 patient visits per year. The Center offers primary care services to the underserved on Detroit's east side; 45 percent of the Center's patients have no medical insurance. In just the past year, the Center's number of patients increased by more than 900.
"Our uninsured patients probably would not receive care if the Center did not exist," says the Center's Clinical Coordinator and Nurse Practitioner Audrey Allen.
Staffed by certified nurse practitioners, who are assisted by UDM graduate and undergraduate nursing students, the Center provides physical examinations, assessment and treatment of new and longstanding health problems, immunizations, teaching and counseling on common health concerns, health screenings, and individual and group therapy.
Says Allen, "In addition to primary care, we offer these patients services that other clinics cannot. For instance, we can provide specialty care if needed through the Voice of Detroit Initiative – for example, cardiology, gastroenterology, and hematology. They can get diagnostic and laboratory testing and eye referrals as well."
Allen adds, "In just this last year, we offered 255 Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program appointments for uninsured women between the ages of 40 and 64. In sending some of these patients for yearly mammograms and cervical screenings, we have detected several cases of breast and cervical cancer. These women are currently being treated and have a great chance of full recovery. Without the center and our screening program, they would not have known they had cancer and would not have received treatment, and their chances of survival would be much lower."
The Center recently hired another nurse practitioner with a cardiology background, and added another exam room to handle the Clinic's patient increase. This growth has not diminished the Center's level of care, which earned a 99 percent satisfaction rate, based on patient evaluations.
Notes Allen, "With the new nurse practitioner, we are able to see more patients at the Center than before. The new exam room has helped the flow of the office so that more patients can be seen at one time, and we can still offer same day or week appointments."
Center web page: www.udmercy.edu/mcauleyhealth
