MANCHESTER, Va. (WRIC) — Bon Secours, a Catholic health company that manages several hospitals across Virginia, is starting construction on a community clinic in Richmond this Wednesday, June 8, intended to serve those without adequate insurance.
The clinic will serve as the new headquarters of Bon Secours Richmond’s community health team, which currently operates out of the “Care-a-van,” a mobile health clinic that travels to sites around the city.
The mobile clinic has been in operation for more than 25 years – and will continue to do so, even as the team moves into the facility at 2301 Everett Street in Manchester.
Becky Clay Christensen is the head of the community health team, and she said the renovated clinic – which is expected to open in 2023 – will help them continue the work they’ve been doing all along.
“We all want safe shelter, healthy food, opportunities for our children,” Christensen said. “We want, of course, good health.”
That’s meant going beyond what might typically be thought of as medical care and focusing on “social determinants” of health. That means factors in individuals’ lives – like employment, education and the environment – that can influence health in profound ways.
“The major truth about health is that no one can do this alone,” Christensen said. She added that Bon Secours would continue to work with other community organizations to provide things like mental health services, affordable housing assistance and childcare. Dr. Paula Young, one of the physicians working with the “Care-a-van,” said outreach to churches has been especially important.
“Through our work with these churches, we’re able to work with their congregations and become trusted medical providers in these communities,” she said.
Christensen also offered a tour of the 8,000-foot facility, which is in the middle of the renovation process. The bottom floor will reportedly be for public-facing services.
