Published: July 02, 2009 11:05 pm      

EKU’s health center receives national grant for expansion, renovations

Eastern Kentucky University’s Bluegrass Community Health Center will update its management system and expand one of its clinics with a $472,915 grant from the Health Resources and Service Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The center, originally established as a migrant farm worker health center in 2001, is now a licensed comprehensive health care facility with two clinics in Lexington that provide preventive and primary care services to all central Kentuckians on an ability-to-pay basis — a change made possible, in part, by a previous HRSA grant.

Funds from the most recent grant will allow the center to expand and renovate the clinic at 1306 Versailles Road in Lexington and update electronic medical record/practice management systems, according to Dr. Susan Fister, R.N., executive director of the Bluegrass Community Health Center and professor of baccalaureate and graduate nursing at EKU.

Both the Versailles Road clinic and the one located at 151 N. Eagle Creek Drive in Lexington provide a variety of on-site services, including well-child and well-adult exams, sick visits for adults and children, chronic illness management, school and sports physicals, immunizations, women’s health and family planning, counseling services, and case management and referral. Outreach services include interpreting, health care screenings, health education, case management, community collaborations and health fairs. The center serves Bourbon, Clark, Garrard, Fayette, Jessamine, Madison, Scott and Woodford Counties.

The center lists more than 30 community partners, including the Lexington-Fayette Health Department, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, Lexington Clinic, University of Kentucky, Central Baptist Hospital, Saint Joseph Health System, county extension agencies and family resource centers.

For more information, call 859-259-2635 or, toll-free, 877-527-2583 (1-855-LASALUD) or visit www.bchc.eku.edu.