The Ambrose H. Clement Health Center is an anchor project embedded within the Avondale Town Center. Photo provided
By Marla Hurston Fuller
Cincinnati Health Department
The Cincinnati Health Department (CHD), in partnership with UC Health, announces the opening of a new 19,000 square-foot, full-service healthcare facility in the heart of the Avondale neighborhood. The Ambrose H. Clement Health Center is an anchor project embedded within the Avondale Town Center development and the direct result of the growing demand for additional services in the community.
Constructed by The Community Builders, and jointly operated by CHD and UC Health, the facility at 3559 Reading Road. will serve the healthcare needs of the Avondale community and provide access to first-class, culturally competent care within walking distance for residents of the neighborhood. Services will include adult medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics/ gynecology, mental health services, pharmacy, WIC and health insurance enrollment assistance and laboratory services.
“Our partnership with UC Health allows us to bring primary care services closer to Avondale and our surrounding communities, and will continue to work closely with them to meet the healthcare needs of the general population as well as the underserved,” said Melba Moore, Cincinnati Health Department commissioner.
The new location and additional space allow for more exam rooms, better space for the delivery of team-based integrated care, nutrition education and other parenting classes, and the opportunity to work with many more families and provide more services.
“This community needs more high-quality care for both kids and adults. We are finding that families are more anxious, more depressed, more sedentary, and less interactive than they were just a decade ago,” Moore said. “We see families in despair, hungry and without their basic needs being met every day. The rate of food insecurity, substance abuse disorder, infant mortality, obesity, depression, suicide and anxiety are growing at alarming rates, and we have to take action to help our community members.”
There are several physicians and mental health providers at the new facility, which will allow for more children and families to be seen. The Cincinnati Health Department will staff the health center with family nurse practitioners Katherine Redman, MSN, APRN-CNP, FNP-BC and Lauren Gering, APRN, FNP-BC.
- UC Health clinicians will staff the health clinic include UC Health Obstetrics and Gynecology: William J. Moravec, MD; Clinque Davis, CNP
- UC Health Primary Care/Psychiatry: Robert Pulliam, MD
- UC Health Psychiatry: Jackie Collins, MD; Maria Espinola, PsyD; Stephen Benoit, PhD, MA, LPCC
Richard P. Lofgren, MD, UC Health president and CEO, said, “We have heard loud and clear that we must ensure broader access to care and must address health disparities. This new health center will provide first-in-class, culturally competent care within walking distance for residents.”
In 2018, the Cincinnati Health Department increased overall annual patient volume to 58,754 patients and had 115,103 total patient visits. Of those, 15,011 were referrals, 68 percent were insured, and a total of 178,964 prescriptions were filled.
Prior to the relocation, the Clement facility had been located at the corner of Burnet Avenue and Martin Luther King Drive for the past five years.