'People weren't coming out': West Palm officials spread word about health center in Historic NW

Florida Atlantic University and the Northwest Community Health Alliance have operated a health center in the heart of West Palm Beach's largely Black Northwest community for two years.

But those who fought for the creation of the center — and those who run it — want more people to know about its broad array of services.

They held an open house and tour of the U.B. Kinsey Educational and Community Center on Tuesday, with a range of officials including Mayor Keith James, Urban League of Palm Beach County CEO Patrick Franklin, Center Director Karethy Edwards and Associate Director Karen Wisdom-Chambers all praising the work of the center.

"This is something that we need in our community more than ever," Franklin said.

The Kinsey Center opened to little fanfare in April 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.

"People weren't coming out," Wisdom-Chambers said. "We wanted people to know what we're doing."

The need for such facilities is clear.

Studies have shown that Black Americans are disproportionately affected by a variety of physical and mental health maladies.

A report from the American Diabetes Association, for example, found that 12.1% of Black Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes. That's a far higher percentage than the 7.4% of white Americans who have been diagnosed with the condition, which can lead to amputations and organ failure.

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The Cleveland Clinic has found that Black men have a 70% higher risk of heart failure compared to white men and that Black women have a 50% higher risk of heart failure compared to white women. Black adults, the Cleveland Clinic reported, are more than twice as likely as white adults to be hospitalized for heart failure.

Various reports have shown that Black Americans have less access to mental health care compared to white Americans.

Here's what the Kinsey Community Center offers

Simply getting to the doctor is a problem for many Black Americans.

The Kinsey Community Center is an attempt to address that problem.

The center offers what it calls "Uber care" where it will make use of that transportation service to get patients to and from appointments if they have no other means of getting to them.

Located at 720 8th Street, the Kinsey Center — named in honor of longtime Palm Beach County educator Ulysses Bradshaw Kinsey — is in the heart of the Northwest community and is partnered with Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, which is also located on 8th Street.

Tabernacle's pastor, Gerald Kisner, was among those attending the open house Tuesday.

"It's such a need in our community, and we want people to know about it," he said.

Kinsey and its sister facility, Westgate Community Health Center at 1650 Osceola Drive in West Palm Beach, offer primary and behavioral health care services, vision and hearing screenings and pediatric care.

The centers offer geriatric care, conduct sick visits, laboratory testing for cholesterol and HIV and has been designated by the American Diabetes Association as a Diabetes Certification Education Center.

According to its fiscal year 2021-22 report, the centers served 4,554 patients.

Just over half of those patients had household incomes at or below 200% of federal poverty guidelines.

Black patients accounted for 41% of those who got care, while Hispanics accounted for 35% and whites 12%.

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FAU's nursing and social work students are trained at the facilities and Wisdom-Chambers said the university's medical students will soon get training there as well.

Edwards, a professor associated dean for academic affairs at FAU's Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, said that training mission is an important part of the community center's work.

"We have another mission, of course," she said. "We care about community health. But is also to train the next generation of health care professionals."

James said all of the center's work is critical to the Northwest.

"It is significant because it is providing health care in an area where people need it," he said. "Our communities tend to not have facilities like this. We as a people tend to put our health care to the side, so it's important to have a facility like this."

Wayne Washington is a journalist covering West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach and race relations at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at wwashington@pbpost.com and follow him on Twitter @waynewashpbpost. Help support our work; subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: U.B. Kinsey Community Center in West Palm hoping more use its services