A new era in north St. Louis County health care began on Tuesday with a blessing and ribbon cutting at the Mercy Clinic Primary Care and Women’s Health facility in Ferguson. The first day of patient care will be Monday.
The new 5,500-square-foot space at 9180 West Florissant Ave. will serve families of Ferguson and surrounding communities with adult, pediatric and women’s health services.
“This has been an opportunity for collaboration and partnership that will benefit Ferguson residents for decades and generations to come,” Ferguson Mayor Ella Jones said.
The health and well-being of a community starts with the health of its people, according to the 2021 National Health Disparity report, which gathered data on social determinants evaluated from doctor’s visits to access to healthcare.
“Accessible health care in this community will mean a great deal to mothers who have to take public transportation to get to essential places,” Jones said.
Planning for Mercy Clinic Primary Care and Women’s Health in Ferguson began nearly two years ago.
Since its groundbreaking, Mercy has worked with community leaders, stakeholders and residents as part of the Ferguson Community Advisory Council. Its role was to share plans for the space and serve as a voice for the Ferguson community.
“The transformation of the West Florissant corridor will revitalize the community,” Jones said.
“The great people of Ferguson are going to enter this door for healing and healthcare in just a few days,” Donn Sorensen, Mercy executive vice president and Health and Homes CEO, said.
The life expectancy of Ferguson residents, like other predominantly African American areas around St. Louis, is 10 years shorter than more affluent communities, according to Sorenson.
“Health and Homes determined this area needed help, to be uplifted and needed investments,” Sorenson said. “The social determinants of health show there is not a lot of healthcare here.”
A future update for the area provided by Health and Homes will include a renovated bus shelter for people waiting for the bus across the street from the new clinic.
“We knew that we wanted a clinic that would serve the community, but we didn’t know that it would blossom into the wonderful structure we have today,” said Mercy Clinic Vice President Tesh Jewell.
“This facility will include more essential health care components than we initially envisioned. I believe this is a center that can help the people of Ferguson work, play, live and thrive, which I am proud to be a part of.”
Members of the Advisory Council, who came together to give their input for clinic services, include leadership from the school districts in Jennings, Ferguson-Florissant and Riverview Gardens. Community leaders like Jones and organizations like the Boys and Girls Club of Greater St. Louis, next door to the new facility, also participated to ensure the community’s voice was heard.
“Each month, members of this community met together and volunteered their time to give us insight to help us design services that would be offered,” Jewell said. “We are grateful for the voices that came together to create services that will be beneficial to this community.”
The new space will serve as a resource for health and wellness in the community from nutrition to mental health to education. A nutrition center with a nutritionist there one day a week to help with nutrition in disease management, but also nutrition for wellness.
“The most important feature is the holistic nature of this clinic,” Jewell said.
“We are used to thinking in service lines and disease states, which leads to getting a primary physician or addressing a disease once you have it, instead of being intentional about what we can provide to meet the whole person. We also try to be conscious that there are social and economic factors that become barriers to people who are seeking health care.”
Sophie Easterling, practice manager II at the Mercy Clinic, explained how convenient the center will be for people who need to use telehealth services or receive a COVID-19 test.
“People can pull up to the side of the building and we can swab them then run the test,” Easterling said. “We will have monthly classes in the community room on nutrition and family planning.”
Patient education offerings with plans to include parenting classes, care for the caregiver opportunities, smoking cessation and grief counseling.
A Mercy community health worker, Arial Collins, will work to coordinate transportation for appointments, pharmacy assistance and coordination with community organizations like schools, food pantries and more. There will also be a licensed social worker at the facility.
