Atrium Health, YMCA team up for new westside clinic

ATRIUM HEALTH

Advocate Health CEO Gene Woods walks looks at a plaque of Charlotte business leader Ed Brown at the West Boulevard community center named for him. Atrium Health, which is part of Advocate Health, partners with YMCA of Greater Charlotte to open a primary care clinic on West Boulevard.

Atrium Health and the YMCA of Greater Charlotte have collaborated on a health care asset for the West Boulevard corridor.

The Atrium Health Community Care Primary Care West Boulevard Family Medicine clinic, housed within the Ed Brown Community Center at 1940 West Blvd., opened on March 18, boosts health care access to historically underserved neighborhoods. The 5,000-square foot center located on the Stratford Richardson YMCA campus has six exam rooms, minor surgical procedure room, laboratory, and on-site prescription pick-up.

The center is open weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Patients can call (980) 402-1660 or go to the MyAtriumHealth website or app to schedule an appointment.

The community center is named for Ed Brown, a Charlotte philanthropist and business leader who was a member of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority Board of Commissioners, the public board that oversees Atrium Health. including the panel’s chair from 2013-21. Brown, who chaired the panel from 2013-21, was credited with challenging Atrium Health to build new care sites in vulnerable communities and his philanthropy launched the Jan & Ed Brown Center for Pulmonary Medicine as well as therapies to treat lymphoma to Atrium Health Levine Cancer.

Brown, who spent 19 years as a hospital board commissioner, died in 2023.

"Ed Brown, our visionary board chair, was an unwavering advocate for better health care access, especially in vulnerable communities that have historically been underserved," Advocate Health CEO Gene Woods said. Advocate Health includes Atrium Health. “His tireless dedication to our 'for all’ mission and to health equity is reflected in this new clinic serving the West Boulevard community – and has also shaped the organization we have become."

Among the services available at the clinic are pediatric and women’s care, preventive health care, physicals, x-rays, hearing and vision screenings as well as electrocardiograms. Same-day sick appointments, food pharmacy in partnership with Nourish Up (the former Loaves & Fishes) are among the programs and, virtual behavioral health care will be available starting in April. Interpretation services for 40 languages and social work services are also available.

“I’m excited to see the Stratford Richardson YMCA transform into a community integrated campus, beginning with the opening of the Ed Brown Community Center,” said Sue Glass, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Charlotte. “Teaming up with partners like Atrium Health allows us to have a greater impact in the areas of our community that need it most.”

When philanthropist MacKenzie Scott granted the YMCA a major gift from in 2020, it looked for ways to invest in areas of need, including the West Boulevard Corridor. Funding for the Ed Brown Community Center and family medicine clinic was provided, in part, by $2 million in federal funds secured by U.S. Rep. Alma Adams of Charlotte, as well as an allocation from Scott’s philanthropy.

“Health care is one of my ‘four H’s,’ a signature focus for my office, especially when it comes to expanding access to care in disadvantaged communities,” Adams said in a statement. “The $2 million we secured to help transform the Stratford Richardson YMCA into a health community campus will be vital to our West Boulevard corridor community. It is also a way for us to thank Edward Brown for his service to our community. While I did not know Ed personally, he demonstrated a determination to give back, working to ensure as many people as possible have access to the care they need. May better food security, increased access to care and more opportunities for our youth and teens – and all those who benefit from these services around West Boulevard – be Ed’s lasting legacy.”

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