South: Atrium Health launches new mobile medicine unit
North Carolina-based Atrium Health recently dispatched the first of four mobile medicine units designed to provide high-quality, equitable healthcare in underprivileged communities. The unit was made possible by a $1.2 million gift from The Tepper Foundation. The monetary gift from The Tepper Foundation will advance Atrium Health’s efforts to address the underlying needs of patients by extending social service resources to individuals through community health workers, referral navigators, and the Atrium Health Community Resource Hub.
“This innovative care model supports Atrium Health’s efforts to offer patients convenient access to care where they live, work, and play,” said David Tepper, owner of the Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC. “Our organizations share the same passion for empowering people in high-risk communities to improve and achieve their best health.”
The vehicle, dispatched from the Mobile Medicine headquarters on Beam Road, headed to Anson County for its first day of patient visits. The vehicle will serve South Mecklenburg, Anson and Union Counties around the greater Charlotte region.
The mobile units will each have a three-person staff comprised of a Family Nurse Practitioner, Driver/Registrar, and a Certified Medical Assistant. Collectively, the units are expected to serve over 480 patients by the end of the year. The unit funded will provide primary care/screenings in the South Market. Other community funders are supporting two additional primary care mobile units for the West and North Market, as well as a women’s care unit – for a total of four mobile units to hit the road by year’s end.
WEST: Children’s genomics study at Intermountain reaches enrollment milestone
Intermountain Healthcare’s groundbreaking HerediGene: Children’s Study – the world’s largest DNA mapping effort ever to be undertaken in kids – has reached a milestone of 2,500 enrollments. The increase in children participating in this pioneering study gives researchers more information to understand the causes of genetic diseases and discover treatments to help children thrive.
“The involvement of so many children and families in this study is really powering progress,” said Josh Bonkowsky, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics at University of Utah Health and director of Primary Children’s Center for Personalized Medicine. “It shows how our community is partnering to transform discovery and opportunities for treatments for pediatric diseases.”
Launched in late 2020 by Intermountain Healthcare scientists, the HerediGene: Children’s Study, aims to collect 50,000 DNA samples of children, newborn to 18 years old, to help them access future treatments and possible cures for genetic disorders, based on their unique DNA. The 2,500 patients enrolled in the study includes both pediatric patients and parents who participated with their children. The adult samples will ultimately contribute to the 500,000 adults sought to participate in the HerediGene: Population Study.
Family participation in the study adds genetic information to help researchers at the Intermountain Primary Children’s Center for Personalized Medicine, in collaboration with pediatric physicians and scientists from University of Utah Health, and Intermountain Precision Genomics better understand genetic diseases in children.
MIDWEST: PMB and UChicago Medicine break ground on $121 million multispecialty care facility
PMB along with The University of Chicago Medicine broke ground on a new two-story, 130,000-square-foot multispecialty care center and micro-hospital in Northwest Indiana for what will be the academic health system’s largest off-site facility and its first freestanding building in Indiana. The $121 million state-of-the-art care center, at I-65 and 109th Avenue in Crown Point, is expected to open in spring of 2024.
During the on-site groundbreaking ceremony on August 3, 2022, hospital leaders and Crown Point’s mayor spoke about the benefits of the new care facility to the community and broader Northwest Indiana region.
Since October 2021 when the initiative was first announced, plans for the new facility have evolved and grown. Hospital leadership worked with partners in the project and Crown Point officials to make sure the new facility can meet future healthcare demands of the Northwest Indiana community.
Advanced Care for the Community
The Crown Point care center will include:
- A micro-hospital with an eight-bed emergency department and a short-stay inpatient unit
- A comprehensive cancer center with infusion therapy as well as radiation, medical and surgical oncology
- An imaging center with MRI, CT, PET, X-ray and ultrasound capabilities
- An outpatient surgery center
- Laboratory services
- Medical offices with access to UChicago Medicine’s physicians and specialists, including those in cancer care, cardiology, digestive diseases, orthopedics, neurosciences, pediatrics, primary care, surgical specialties, transplant care and women’s health
In addition to developer PMB, other partners in the project include Walsh Construction and architecture and design firm Perkins & Will.
The Crown Point center is expected to have 110,00 patient visits each year and create at least 150 high-paying clinical and nonclinical jobs.
The multispecialty care facility adds to the presence UChicago Medicine already has through smaller medical offices in Northwest Indiana – in Munster, Merrillville, Westville and Schererville.