Duke opens its third and largest community-based healthcare facility

On Aug. 25, Duke University Health System opened its third and largest community-based healthcare program at a former Durham middle school.

The city of Durham renovated the school, located in one of its most-challenged inner-city areas, into the multipurpose, community-centric Holton Career and Resource Center. The DUHS healthcare program is located within the larger Holton facility.

Holton Wellness Center, at 401 N. Driver St., offers local residents access to a comprehensive variety of healthcare services regardless of their ability to pay.

Services include preventive medicine, nutritional counseling and mental health evaluations, as well as various health screenings, general health education, and no-cost referrals to Duke specialists -- through the Project Access program -- for injuries and illnesses that need specialized attention.

As part of the current collaboration with local governments and its ongoing commitment to improving the health and healthcare access of people in Durham, DUHS also earlier invested $250,000 in capital funds to the Holton renovation project, whose DUHS wellness center will help to fill a strategically important healthcare need in Northeast Central Durham.

At more than 2,600 square feet and with six exam rooms staffed by Duke medical providers, Holton Wellness Center also adds to a growing network of Duke financially supported community clinics that include Walltown, Lyon Park and the Lincoln Community Health Center, of which Holton Wellness Center will be a satellite.

Walltown and Lyon Park saw nearly 11,000 patients in 2008. In the same year, more than 36,000 people used services at Lincoln, mostly African-Americans and Hispanics. About 78 percent were uninsured, and 83 percent lived below the federally defined poverty guideline. As an active supporter of improved healthcare in Durham, DUHS also funds and operates wellness centers in three elementary schools and a high school.

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