Oakwood University Signs Lease with Huntsville Hospital for Community Care

By: Oakwood University, North American Division

On February 24, 2021, Oakwood University and Huntsville Hospital hosted a lease-signing event at the Oakwood University Community Health Action Center (CHAC) construction site at Sparkman Drive and Bronco Circle in Huntsville, Alabama, United States.

Huntsville Hospital will establish an ambulatory care clinic within the new health center. Oakwood students, employees, and community residents will have access to high-quality care at the walk-in clinic. Establishing this facility will also allow for continuity of care from the walk-in clinic to in-patient care at Huntsville Hospital.

“Huntsville Hospital Health System is very pleased to work with Oakwood University in bringing this dream to fruition. The clinic will provide important health services to people throughout this community,” said David Spillers, CEO of Huntsville Hospital Health System.

“The Community Health Action Center launches Oakwood’s community-facing phase of our nationally recognized Healthy Campus 2020 campus wellness initiative,” Leslie Pollard, Oakwood University president, said. “Our event today underscores our Healthy Campus, Healthy Community commitment to our community.

“Oakwood University has been in the Huntsville community for 125 years, and so has Huntsville Hospital. Together, we plan to bring health and healing to the morbidities affecting the citizens of Northwest Huntsville. The partnership today between Huntsville Hospital and Oakwood University is designed to improve the health status of underserved citizens of the City of Huntsville.”

The completion of Oakwood’s 10,000-square-foot (929-square-meter) Community Health Action Center will not only deliver health care on one side of the Oakwood facility, but the other side of the university’s facility will house real-life service-learning activities for students and faculty as they deliver health education, nutrition education, job skills training, and the services of Oakwood’s mobile food market. Faculty are already planning life-skills classes and after-school learning support for children.

“Today, we are pleased to sign this agreement with our partner, the Huntsville Hospital System, as a symbol of our shared care for our community,” Pollard said. “We look forward to our grand opening during the first week of June 2021.”

The original version of this story was posted on the North American Division news site.