Oakwood University and Huntsville Hospital Open Community Health Action Center in Northwest Huntsville |
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On June 21, at 10:30 a.m., Oakwood University and Huntsville Hospital celebrated the grand opening of the Community Health Action Center (CHAC), at the corner of Sparkman Avenue and Bronco Circle, at 1863 Sparkman Drive NW, in Huntsville. Oakwood administrators, employees and students, civic leaders, educational representatives, community residents, donors, friends and the media were present for the historic event.
Both Oakwood University and Huntsville Hospital have existed for 125 years. The building of this facility speaks to the collaboration between two of Huntsville's two historic institutions.
President Dr. Leslie Pollard described the history of how the vision for the walk-in clinic in Northwest Huntsville began. “In 2018, I scheduled an appointment with CEO Spillers to inquire if he might be interested in establishing healthcare in Huntsville’s northwest. Mr. Spillers immediately indicated that he was not only interested, but he had been thinking deeply about how and where such a facility could be launched. I told him that our Healthy Campus program included a community-facing phase—a health center for underserved citizens. So let’s do it together.”
Dr. Pollard also shared the following in his opening speech to the attendees: “Approximately 15 months ago, March 20, 2020, I emailed a memo to our campus community announcing the closing our campus and transitioning to hybrid operations. But today, on June 21, we open a new facility. We thank God for this moment! During the 2020 pandemic year, our Oakwood team worked on many fronts—delivering education, maintaining our supplemental business operations, and yes, constructing this facility, creating a partnership with Huntsville Hospital in providing healthcare and service to our community’s underserved citizens. On this occasion of the Grand Opening of our Oakwood University Community Health Action Center, today we announce that not only are we are expanding our 125 year calling to service, but doing so in a better, bigger, and more bountiful way. In our 125th anniversary year we present a gift to our community!”
The Community Health Action Center will address three main issues in the Huntsville area: 1) health disparities; 2) food insecurities; and 3) job insecurities. Oakwood's Health Ambassadors will deliver health education sessions and workshops related to the conditions that disproportionately affect African Americans, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. After school programs, job skills education and job referral and other services will also be offered through the Community Health Action Center and Mobile Market. Services are targeted to address hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease, as well as job skills education to provide a pathway to gainful employment.
“Our community engagement through Service Learning will be concretized in a dedicated space that our community can see, touch, and experience,” said President Leslie Pollard. “I am pleased, that through the efforts of many donors, this state-of-the-art center of influence and service can now serve residents of Northwest Huntsville,” he continued.
Huntsville Hospital has leased space in the new facility to establish an ambulatory care clinic, that 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.
Finally, President Pollard thanked a number of key Oakwood personnel who were supported the vision for expanding the mission beyond the borders of the campus. Special thanks were extended to Dr. Prudence Pollard, project lead, and her construction coordinator, Dr. Handel Fraser. “They made a formidable team, taking an empty field to this 4 million dollar facility,” said the President.
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President Leslie Pollard pauses a moment to celebrate this historic collaboration with the team from Huntsville Hospital Health System (l-r): Dr. Pollard; Carole Rundle, Director, Physicians Network Primary Care; Christopher Rush, Vice President, Physician Network; Burr Ingram, Vice President Communications and Marketing; Jeff Samz, Chief Operating Officer and incoming CEO; David Spillers, CEO. (Photo: Cheri Wilson)
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Oakwood University Will Soon Start a Vaccine Clinic
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Oakwood University is joining the statewide effort to get more Alabamians vaccinated. Oakwood is one of the multiple grant winners from across the state. A $250,000 grant was offered to boost vaccine numbers in minority groups. As a historically black college, Oakwood leaders hope to establish a vaccine clinic to have a positive impact on the vaccination effort, especially as minority groups are shown to be more hesitant to get the vaccine.
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Be Counted by June 30, 2021 |
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Double Your Gift to the 40 MORE ACRES Campaign |
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This project will help our community gain access to healthy, fresh food options, which will decrease the food insecurities in this area and promote health improvements. We will also help develop farmers by teaching principles for farming. This is an important project that needs your support. Change a life, change a community – get involved today.
Because your donation will have double impact, this is the PERFECT time to give. Your gifts are growing our potential to help the community, and we ask that you please continue to support this project. Thank you in advance for the demonstrations of love and support you’ve shared with Oakwood University.
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We Need More Black Doctors
by Pamela Payne-Foster, M.D.
Preventive medicine/public health physician and professor of community medicine and
population health at the University of Alabama; deputy director for Community Outreach for
the College’s Institute for Rural Health Research
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The death of a fellow Black female physician, Dr. Susan Moore, during the early days of COVID-19 was painful and personally resonated with me. Her documentation of her perceived mistreatment and unequal treatment because of her race during her hospital stay because of a COVID-19 illness, provided a real time case study on ongoing issues in health care.
As a Black female physician who teaches medical and health profession students and residents, I specialize in the areas of health disparities in racial/ethnic minorities often fueled by a lack of cultural competency and humility in health care providers.
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My lecture usually starts with a discussion of the one of the seminal research studies in health disparities literature conducted in 1999 which implied that provider bias could potentially affect patient outcomes. The study, often referred as the “Georgetown Study” led by Dr. Schulman of Georgetown University where standardized patients were given similar cardiac symptoms and physicians were asked to prescribe treatment. The only differences in the patients was that some were Black, some white, some female, some male.
The results of study was that the physician participants prescribed cardiac catherization treatment less frequently for women and Blacks. The newspaper headlines read: “Is there racism and sexism in medicine?” I suspect that if we asked those physician participants if they were “racist or sexist” that they would vehemently deny that they were. But the Georgetown Study suggested that my colleagues don’t know what they don’t recognize.
Since that time, more and more studies have suggested that cultural bias is a real phenomenon in medicine and healthcare and attempts to address this bias through cultural competency training for current health care providers is important and needed. But providing mandatory training to move providers closer to being cultural competent is not enough.
I would suggest increasing the number of physicians who look more like Dr. Moore is key and crucial. We need more Black physicians in order to close health disparity gaps. I think one key to increasing our numbers is to look at and duplicate the history and success of the historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to provide the pipeline for Black students to enter and graduate from medical school.
The success of HBCUs as pipelines for the production of Black physicians is attributed to their history as institutions that were designed to support African American students by providing an educational learning environment that caters to their unique challenges and cultural understandings. In a recent article in 2017 by Dr. Marybeth Gasman and colleagues, they suggest that “continuing to create partnerships with medical schools and creating more opportunities for Black students will be pertinent to diversifying the medical field”.
Recently, I was elated to hear that the Predominately White Institution where I work had just signed a formal agreement with an HBCU in the state, Oakwood University, to prime the pipeline in order to increase its students into the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine. This new Initiative comes under the leadership of the school’s first Black Dean, Dr. Selwyn Vickers. This program and other formal structures and programs which recognize and rely on the great legacies of HBCUs is a great step in the right direction.
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Offices at Oakwood University will be closed Friday, June 25 through Monday, July 5, 2021, to allow our employees time off before the new school year begins. Normal office hours will resume on Tuesday, July 6, 2021. Due to this summer break, we ask you to please bear with us as you may not receive an immediate answer, return call, or a return email. Responses will be generated when employees return to campus on July 6. In cases of emergency, contact the Oakwood University Police Department at 256-726-7375.
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Give the "Oakwood Experience"
by Emile D. Parker, MBA - Director of Alumni Relations
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If you are an Oakwood alum who has a son or daughter who is still trying to decide which college or University to attend this coming Fall, give them the gift of the "Oakwood Experience" by making them an Oakwood Legacy student and sending them to your alma mater: Oakwood University. Your Oakwood is still transforming lives, as it did for you.
Our Enrollment team is ready to help them start their Oakwood journey today -- click here to apply.
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Through his "Embolden" podcast, Oakwood alum Anthony Bolden helps people live life BOLDLY.
One of our very own Oakwood alums, a music grad, former director of Voices of Triumph, obtained an M.Div. from Andrews University, and an M.A. in Pastoral Ministries from Oakwood University, is the Director of Programs at a nonprofit called Chicago Debates. Anthony has recently been selected by Forefront and the Education Equity Fund as one of 12 recipients of the Education Equity Fellowship. This fellowship is an opportunity for professionals serving nonprofit education organizations to build relationships with peers, deepen their ability to navigate ongoing challenges, and collaborate with other community-based education organizations. Continued blessings to him as he represents his God, his family, and his Oakwood.
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Reminders & Opportunities |
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Call for Submissions: Young Women's Devotional |
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The Anna Knight Women's Leadership Center & Museum is excited to announce the upcoming production of the 2022 Young Women’s Devotional. Sharing your story is important and we have compiled templates and guidelines to help you put your story in motion, to help, motivate, and encourage other young women. We want to encourage you to submit as many entries as you wish!
We want to encourage you to submit as many entries as you wish. We cannot do this without you!
Submit your story or your artistic expression today! If you have any questions, please contact Adrienne Reid at wlc@oakwood.edu, or (256) 726-7245.
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Calling all #HBCUalumni: Here’s a chance for your #HBCU to win $20,000. We are looking for you to tell your story about your #HBCUexperience and to represent your alma mater for FDPRI’s study “The #HBCU Experience: An Explorative of Peer Networks and Workforce Outcomes for #HBCUAlumni.” Make sure your #HBCU is in the top 10 with the most alumni survey participants by July 5 at 11:59 pm ET for them to be considered a winner for our $20K award. Click here to complete the survey.
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Thursday @ 8:30 a.m. CDT
Join us at 8:30 a.m. (Central Daylight Time) Thursdays on Morning Joy with Dawna Baker, for a special edition of "Inside Oakwood with Dr. Leslie Pollard." Programs are broadcast on Facebook Live, and you can also listen via our live stream at http://wjou.org.
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Give back year-round to Oakwood University
while shopping online with AmazonSmile.
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The AmazonSmile Foundation will send OU .5% of eligible purchases when you choose Oakwood University.
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It's simple:
- You can use your current Amazon account.
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Just click https://smile.amazon.com.
- When prompted, select Oakwood University as your charitable organization, and then
- Shop as you normally do.
Donations are made by the AmazonSmile Foundation and are not tax deductible by you.
Your Oakwood University family thanks you for all you continue to do for our dear Oakwood.
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The Legacy Walkway, that leads from Ford Hall and Peters Media Center to the rest of the campus, is paved with bricks that can be personalized.
Pave the way into the next 125 years of success by purchasing a brick on the Legacy Walkway.
The Legacy Walkway Brick Campaign provides an opportunity to leave a legacy and support campus improvement at the same time. Our Legacy Walkway features names of donors, loved ones, special remembrances, and favorite sayings. Bricks are a great opportunity to congratulate a recent graduate, celebrated degree or accomplishment, or honor your loved ones.
Don’t miss out on this opportunity to leave more than a memory at Oakwood University. You can leave your own legacy as we continue our mission – to transform the lives of our students.
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Show OU Pride in Alabama! |
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When an Oakwood license plate is purchased from the Alabama Department of Motor Vehicles, the additional annual fee is donated to student scholarships at OU. This can be claimed as a charitable contribution to scholarships for students from Alabama (Section 32-6-156, Code of Alabama 1975).
There is the option of keeping the same expiration date as the plate being replaced, or beginning the Oakwood plate with a full year’s registration. Currently, this initiative is available only in Alabama.
Contact your local Alabama Department of Motor Vehicles office for more information.
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Editor's Note:
Because offices at Oakwood University will be closed Friday, June 25 through Monday, July 5, 2021, the next issue of insideOakwood will be published on July 7.
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The mission of Oakwood University, a historically black, Seventh-day Adventist institution, is to transform students through biblically-based education for service to God and humanity. |
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InsideOakwood is published by the Office of Integrated Marketing & Public Relations.
Editor: Debbe Millet | Photographer: Teymi Townsend
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