University Health Services, the primary care clinic for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center campus, has a new look, more space, and expanded services. On Thursday, June 8, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., the clinic is hosting an open house for faculty and staff to drop by and see what’s new.
The clinic now takes up the entire ninth floor of the 910 Madison Building. The waiting rooms have a fresh look, and there are additional exam rooms and lab spaces. To ensure privacy, the entrance, waiting room, and exam rooms for students are separate from the accommodations for faculty and staff.
Marie Bredy, DNP, FNP, administrative director of University Health Services, said the open house aims to show off the clinic’s facelift and promote campus awareness of the facility and all it has to offer.
“We function as primary care,” she said. That includes managing chronic health issues, performing physicals for men and women, making necessary referrals to specialists, providing immunizations, and offering a travel clinic to advise on travel health and safety and to administer vaccinations necessary for travel. Mental health and behavioral health services are also available.
The staff includes one physician, three nurse practitioners, and one physician assistant, who will work part time. Kimberly Williams Collins, PhD, MS, joined the staff as a counseling psychologist in April.
“University Health’s motto is, ‘we provide the best service to everyone, every single day, every time,’ ” Dr. Bredy said.
Dr. Bredy said the clinic strives to be convenient, and generally offers same-day appointments. Five exam rooms are on the student side of the clinic and seven are on the employee side. The clinic has three fully equipped laboratories.
“The thing that we pride ourselves on is that we have a very short wait time,’” she said. “The idea is you can come over here on your lunch hour and be gone in your lunch hour, and still have time to get a sandwich. You’re not here waiting for two or three hours to be seen.”
University Health Services takes insurance from Cigna, United Healthcare, and BlueCross BlueShield. It is open to students, as well as faculty and staff and their family members over age 18.
Ken Brown, JD, MPA, PhD, FACHE, executive vice chancellor and chief operations officer at UTHSC, has been the force behind the improvements. “We believe we have a responsibility to provide the very best of care to our faculty, staff, and their families,” Dr. Brown said. “We have every confidence that the well-trained staff of the University Health Services primary care clinic is poised to meet those health care needs.”
Eventually, the clinic may extend services to faculty at higher education institutions in the surrounding community. Already, it has a contract with Baptist College of Health Sciences to provide services to its students.
“We want to make sure we are a healthy community,” Dr. Bredy said.