Church-based health clinics developed in Indianapolis a national model

Women and health

Church-based health clinics developed in Indianapolis a national model

By Will Fay

A small network of church-based, inner-city health clinics organized by two faculty members from the IU School of Nursing at IUPUI has been honored as a national model by one of the nation's top health-care alliances.

Su Moore(left) and Sandy Burgener

The Shalom Wellness Center, which offers primary health-care services to the poor and homeless in Indianapolis, was named third runner-up and earned a $24,000 cash award this month in the Monroe E. Trout Premier Cares Award competition.

The awards spotlight model programs that help the medically under served and focuses on the need to support such locally based efforts. The Shalom Wellness Center was among 219 programs nominated for the award by health-care organizations across the country.

The center, directed by nursing faculty Su Moore and Sandy Burgener, was established as a cost-effective approach to meeting the health-care needs of medically under-served people in the innercity.

By working with neighborhood churches that have active community outreach programs, the clinics are able to reach populations that have traditionally been difficult to access. The Shalom Wellness Center is linked to more than 30 agencies in Marion County and encompasses a small network of church-based clinics offering disease management, primary prevention, episodic illness and health promotion services to the poor. The clinics are managed by nurses working with local physicians.

In collaboration with the IU School of Nursing, the Shalom Wellness Center uses staff, faculty, volunteers and students to provide health services. The center received initial funding from the Indiana State Department of Health and has received additional support through the Robert Wood Johnson Local Initiative, with matching funding from the Indianapolis Foundation and the Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis Inc. Other local support has come from St. Paul's Endowment for Mission and Ministry, the Pilgrim Lutheran Church Benefaction Fund and the Indiana Children's Trust Fund.

The center's clinics are located at Broadway United Methodist and Roberts Park United Methodist churches. The two churches work together with area residents, organizations and institutions to rebuild and renew community life in economically challenged neighborhoods.

"Grassroots community action is what the Cares Award is all about," said Robert W. O'Leary, Premier's chairman and chief executive officer. "It recognizes innovative local efforts to help the medically under-served among us and underscores the importance of supporting these deserving efforts."

Award recipients were chosen by a panel of national leaders selected from business, academia, labor, medicine, public health and consumer interests. The award is named after Dr. Monroe E. Trout, chairman of American Health Care Systems from 1986-94.

Premier Inc. operates 700 hospitals and health-care facilities across the United States.

For more information about the clinic and its services, contact Moore or Burgener at 317-924-1656.