On Sept. 7, the new Broadlawns Community Clinic on University Avenue hosted a ribbon cutting and open house for the public and its partners.
The clinic opened its doors for care on Monday, Sept. 11 of this year, slightly over a year since construction began in May 2022. The new 12,000-square-foot building will offer primary care, urgent care and mental health services, including vaccinations, acute illness treatment and therapy.
“We are so proud to partner with Drake University and provide a state-of-the-art medical clinic that will best serve the school and the surrounding community,” Broadlawns Medical Center President and CEO Dr. Anthony B. Coleman said in a press release.
Wanting to ensure community partnership, many collaborators came to help.
“The new Broadlawns Community Clinic at Drake is an extraordinary private-public partnership,” City of Des Moines Council member Connie Boesen said in a press release. “Broadlawns and Drake collaborated with the city, county and area neighborhood associations for the needs assessment, planning and development — and all partners have been fully supportive.”
The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration has stated that the Drake Neighborhood is a medically underserved community in Polk County. Arnold said community partners are hoping to change that statistic.
The new facility includes 13 new exam rooms and six rooms reserved for counseling sessions. Four of those rooms are reserved for Drake students while the other two are for the public.
“By providing medical services and a rotation of specialties within the neighborhood on University Avenue with easy access to public transit, it helps address accessibility issues for the neighborhoods,” Director of Community Engagement Ryan Arnold said. “Broadlawns being a public hospital system, they never refuse care regardless of someone’s financial position. That is one reason why I’m so excited for Broadlawns to be a partner with this clinic.”
The clinic will also aim to help more Drake students. Before, students had access to the Broadlawns Medical Center at the American Republic State Student Health Center on Drake’s campus. The community clinic will replace that facility in hopes of serving more than its previous annual average of 908 patients and 2,720 patient visits.
“The opening of the Community Clinic at Drake celebrates a new chapter in the robust partnership between Drake University and Broadlawns Medical Center,” Drake University President Marty Martin said in a press release. “Through this clinic, we will enhance our student health services, deepen the collaboration benefiting pharmacy and health science education and address a top community-identified need for quality healthcare services in our neighborhood.”
With this new partnership, Broadlawns, Drake University and the Drake neighborhood hope to better their shared community.
“The clinic represents a new chapter in where it moves from primarily benefiting Broadlawns and Drake University to now benefiting the neighborhood and the broader Des Moines community,” Arnold said. “That, to me, is that sweet spot where we’re able to both enhance student health services, which is a need for the campus, but at the same time, we’re able to come alongside Broadlawns to address the need for primary medical care for the neighborhood.”