Center for the Study of Healthcare Disparities & the Odessa Chambliss Wellness Center
Background
Wherever Bethune-Cookman University founder Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune saw a need, she found a way to meet it. Instead of obstacles, she saw challenges. Time after time, she rose to the challenge and created lasting change that improved lives.
In 1911, Mary McLeod Bethune opened a hospital on the grounds of the school that she founded to serve her students and the local black community. She took this action after a black student in need of surgery was turned away from the local hospital which only treated white patients.
Almost one hundred years later, minority communities still face disparities in access to healthcare and health outcomes.
To meet this challenge in the spirit of Dr. Bethune and in keeping with her legacy of community service, civic engagement and social responsibility, Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU) has created the Center for Healthcare Disparities at the B-CU School of Nursing. The Center’s cornerstone program is the Odessa Chambliss Wellness Center, a nurse-managed community health center serving the Daytona Beach community.
Mission
The mission of the Odessa Chambliss Wellness Center of the Bethune-Cookman University School of Nursing is to improve healthcare access and outcomes among underserved populations by providing services that promote healthy lifestyles and educate at-risk citizens to prevent and treat illnesses. The Wellness Center will also train future nursing practitioners to provide culturally competent care to diverse populations.
Programs:
The Odessa Chambliss Wellness Center will use integrated approaches to serve at-risk populations, study health disparities in our community and practice culturally competent approaches to caring for underserved and high health-risk communities. Central to this model is the leveraging of B-CU’s academic resources in a nurse-managed community clinic setting: centralized teaching facilities, student educational opportunities, faculty expertise and research, technological infrastructure and community partners.
By applying these resources to clinical care, the Odessa Chambliss Wellness Center will:
Educate and prepare health care professionals with the most up-to-date information and skills;
Provide an entry point to the healthcare system for members of minority communities that may be otherwise isolated from resources because of illiteracy, language, and/or cultural barriers;
Act as advocates in finding and evaluating treatment information and in navigating the health care system; and,
Coordinate preventive services rendered by local healthcare facilities.
In addition to serving as a centralized healthcare entry point for the community, the Wellness Center will focus its initial programmatic initiatives on the following three specific areas:
• Infant Mortality
• Homeless Children
• Immunizations, including influenza and hepatitis B
B-CU School of Nursing faculty, staff and students will work in partnership with community organizations and healthcare providers to develop outreach, education and intervention programs around these critical issues.
Advisory Board (in formation)
• Chet Bell, chief executive officer, Stewart Marchman Center for Chemical Independence
• Randy Croy, executive director, Serenity House
• Alma Dixon, Ed.D., dean, Bethune-Cookman University School of Nursing
• Dixie Morgese, executive director, Healthy Start Coalition of Flagler and Volusia Counties
• Deanna Shaeffer, president and chief executive officer, Healthy Communities (an affiliate of Halifax Health)
• Karen Volante, Ed.D., associate dean, Bethune-Cookman University School of Nursing
