Next year, Russell residents will have a new option for health services.
A $3.3 million health clinic is being built at 15th and Broadway at the former site of a liquor store by the Park Duvalle Community Health Center, a federally-qualified nonprofit health center that offers medical services at four locations in Louisville. The Russell clinic will offer services for behavioral health, pediatrics, adult care, women’s health and dental care, officials say.
Park Duvalle Community Health Center CEO Elizabeth Ann Hagan-Grigsby said Russell was chosen for the new clinic because of its highly visible location, its proximity to a bus stop, and because there are unmet health needs there.
She said the Russell clinic will serve those with insurance as well as the uninsured.
“We create a holistic system because our patients don’t just walk in and say, ‘I need a pill’ and go home. That’s not the demographic that we primarily serve,” Hagan-Grigsby said. “Our primary population that we serve is to serve individuals that are low-income, highly vulnerable, uninsured and on Medicaid.”
People in Russell have struggled economically thanks in part to an exodus of businesses and residents through the 1980s and '90s.
A neighborhood profile by Metro United Way found 52 percent of Russell’s residents live below the federal poverty line. Forty-seven percent of neighborhood households don’t have access to a vehicle, and more than half of Russell residents who rent spend 30 percent or more of their income on housing costs alone.
The health clinic will cost $2.8 million to build, and an additional $540,000 to buy the land. A federal grant could fund $1 million of the project, but Hagan-Grigsby said the Park Duvalle Community Health Center is still waiting on clearance to use the grant.
She encourages people from Russell and the other parts of Louisville to use the clinics.
“You can live on the moon, and if you are income-eligible and bring us the appropriate documentation, you can come to our clinics,” Hagan-Grigsby said. “I’m really excited. It’s going to really make a difference for the patients of the community.”
The Park Duvalle Community Health Center is still acquiring permits for the project, but Hagan-Grigsby expects the clinic will be built and open by Spring 2019.
