North Columbia gets much-needed medical center in area where services are sparse

A young girl watches cartoons on an iPhone while her guardian writes down the details of her medical history ahead of her first appointment at north Columbia’s newest health care facility.

Billie Holiday plays over the speakers to welcome patients inside. Jessica Romero, the center’s director, wants patients to feel relaxed and at home. The “Today” show runs silently on a TV mounted to the wall in the waiting room. As new patients walk in, Romero asks if anyone wants tea.

Monday was the first day North Main Street’s new Dedicated Senior Medical Center saw patients.

Lessie Brown, a longtime area resident, has been waiting weeks for the new facility to open. She lives about a mile away and has been curious about the health care center. Each time she passed the building on North Main Street, she got excited, hopeful that a new and convenient option was coming to her neighborhood.

Typically, she would have to travel far outside of her neighborhood to see a doctor.

“This is close and convenient for everyone,” Brown said.

The center’s opening was a momentous occasion for leaders in the North Main corridor who say the arrival of the new health care center is vital to the 29203 zip code, where diabetes and other chronic illnesses often go unchecked.

Focus on prevention

Before a new Dedicated Senior Medical Center is established, analysts with ChenMed, the company that runs the centers, conduct wide-ranging research on the area, from what kind of Medicare plans residents hold to what kind of health disparities exist.

In November, a facility opened in the Arsenal Hill area downtown, at the intersection of Calhoun and Assembly streets.

Just north of downtown, the 29203 area was a prime candidate for a medical center, Romero said.

Last year, The State Media Co. published a sweeping analysis showing that over a five-year period, the 29203 zip code had the highest rate of diabetic amputations among 120 zip codes analyzed in the Southeast.

A lack of preventative medical care and a lack of fresh food options were both noted as likely reasons for 29203’s high rates of amputations.

What makes the Dedicated Senior Medical Center different from other health care centers is the focus on prevention, Romero said.

One big difference that helps accomplish that mission is the number of patients doctors at the center see.

Industry research suggests that for primary care, the average number of patients assigned to one physician is between 1,200 and 1,900. The Dedicated Senior Medical Center caps the number of patients per doctor at 400-450, meaning doctors can follow up more often with the patients they have.

“We could see the patient every day if that’s what the patient wanted,” said Dr. Haresh Kumar.

By following up with patients more often, doctors say they’re better able to prevent serious disease. Patients get the doctors’ cellphone numbers, and doctors are expected to make frequent contact with their patients.

A large flat screen is mounted to the wall next to physicians’ cubicles showing a variety of metrics meant to measure patient care. Doctors are judged on how often they are in contact with their patients, patient satisfaction and whether their patients have frequent hospital visits.

”We want to become an integral part of our patient’s lives,” said Dr. Meera Kelley, the regional chief medical officer for facilities across four states. “The connection to the patient is the most significant thing.”

Another unique goal of the center is to connect with patients beyond their medical needs. The center is hosting bingo events to ease loneliness and depression, which older patients often struggle with. Doctors have plans to speak to church congregations and to host educational events. And if a patient is food insecure, doctors help connect them with more stable food resources.

“Because taking care of your health is so much more than taking a pill, right?” Kelley said.

Filling a gap

Before it was a medical center for seniors, the building at 5900 North Main St. housed a drug store. It was at varying points a Rite Aid, an Eckerd Drugs and a Walgreens, before Walgreens closed the shop for good in 2020.

Black Columbia leaders decried the corporate pharmacy for shuttering the store in June 2020, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic that disproportionately affected Black residents.

“This community is considered a community with vulnerable adults, older people, people who have challenges like high blood pressure, diabetes and so forth. And we think it’s just really unconscionable for a store to move out of this neighborhood,” J.T. McLawhorn, president and CEO of the Columbia Urban League, said at the time.

Walgreens’ departure was a major hit to the corridor, particularly in light of the high rates of amputations and other medical needs in the area, said North Columbia Business Association President Sabrina Odom-Edwards.

“We needed something else to move in the corridor to help, and not just help with dialysis and medication, but help with prevention. So that’s the perfect spot” for the new facility, Odom-Edwards said.

It’s an interesting time for the North Main corridor. After decades of minimal investment, developers have finally set their sights north of downtown. At least three new apartments representing almost 600 new units are in progress in the corridor, a charter school wants to expand near Elmwood Avenue, and many believe new retail is certain to follow.

The arrival of a nearly 10,000 square-foot medical center for seniors, focused on preventing disease, comes at the perfect time, Odom-Edwards said, explaining it’s both a good sign for where the corridor is at in terms of development, and it bodes well for attracting more amenities to the area in the future.

With new housing coming online, Odom-Edwards anticipates even more interest in the area from retailers and restaurants who will soon have more customers living in the corridor.

The corridor’s next big goal is to attract a grocery store.

“The whole corridor still lacks a supermarket,” Odom-Edwards said. There is a Piggly Wiggly about half a mile from the new medical center, on U.S. Highway 21, but it’s not easily accessible to the majority of the corridor, she added. “’Food desert’ is a good term to call our corridor, but I call it the ‘food swamp’ because everything in the corridor is convenient food, and it’s just food that’s not healthy for us.”

Brown has seen her share of things come and go to the North Main corridor. Mostly, she’s seen things go. Lately that trend is shifting, with new housing and businesses on the horizon.

“I hope they stay,” she said of the new medical center. She’s excited about what she’s been told — that doctors here give their patients more attention. “It’s always like they’re pushing you out the door in a hurry,” with most medical centers, she said. “I hope it’s more personal.”

So far, she’s optimistic.

“I get a good feeling about this place,” she said.