St. Michael's preparing new Satcher Clinic for summer opening

Apr. 14—A week-long tour spotlighting the effect of Community Development Block Grant programs on the city of Anniston ended Friday with a stop at a site now being revived to help revive hope among many of the area's less fortunate.

Officials were taken on a tour Friday morning of what will be the new Dr. David Satcher/St. Michael's Health Clinic on Mulberry Avenue.

The building, which once housed the Glen Addie Community Center and the Boys and Girls Club, is being reimagined into a one-stop health and well-being center which will provide medical and medicinal assistance in concert with a large area that will be staffed and supplied with computers which can aid those wishing to search for jobs or take computer courses.

"This will be the physical embodiment of the things for which the man in whose honor it will be named has worked so hard," said Hobson City Mayor Alberta McCrory.

Satcher is an Anniston native who grew to prominence in the medical profession, serving as the U.S. Surgeon General from 1998 until 2002.

The new facility will eventually replace the current St. Michael's Medical Clinic at 1005 W. 18th Street with a targeted opening date sometime in July and plans are to have a space within the clinic that will honor Dr. Satcher's work.

"Our original clinic has been around since 1988 and we have been doing this work for a long time," said clinic executive director Nanette Mudiam. "It's very easy to imagine what will happen in these new spaces and we are very excited. We are a free and charitable clinic and intend to remain one."

Mudiam said the new clinic will also benefit from a partnership with RMC as well as ongoing assistance from medical students.

"We believe investing in the next generation instills in them the ideals of caring for the poor," she said. "Hopefully, further in their career, they will invest their time and talents into services such as these."

The largest space in the building will be turned into a learning center for which the city of Anniston has pledged to provide staffing.

"We will have computers and a small coffee bar in this room," Mudiam said. "This opportunity to have something to occupy your time while you are waiting is wonderful. We are excited to be able to give computer access to our patients who might not otherwise have it to be able to work on a job application or other things they may need to do."

She added there are plans to add new mental health support for the clinic's patients as well as offering health education classes.

"We are going to use every inch of this building," Mudiam said.

CDBG coordinator Alisa James said the clinic is receiving $330,000 toward the renovation project with an anticipated additional $94,000 that will help with COVID-connected procedures such as touchless sinks.

James said CDBG funds are designed to assist with low-income housing.

"With the opportunities this new clinic will provide, we see it as a way to lift the community's residents and hope the need for this type of housing will be reduced," James said. "This really is a win-win for our community."

McCrory praised the development of the new clinic and looks forward to the day its doors open.

"This is a great opportunity in terms of providing health care to those who need it," McCrory said. "It seems appropriate for St. Michael's, who has provided health care for the indigent in this community for a long time, open this in the name of Dr. David Satcher who spent his life helping to provide health care for indigent people as we move forward to bridging the gap in health equity."

Staff Writer Brian Graves: 256-236-1551.