New student center aims for better lifelong health
Lemoyne-owen prioritizes care, needs during pandemic
Until this fall, students at Lemoyne-Owen College had to leave campus to access medical care. The historically Black college outsourced health services to a clinic that was about a mile away, a barrier to access for anyone who didn’t have transportation.
As fall approached, the college knew it would need a way to plan for students to safely return to campus. It would need medical guidance and a way to administer COVID-19 tests, explained Carol Johnson-dean, interim president. So like other higher education institutions in Memphis, Lemoyne-owen turned toward developing a partnership with a local hospital.
Working with Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, the college planned for testing students for COVID-19, as some returned to campus. Then, the conver
sation expanded to ways LemoyneOwen might address additional health disparities, both among its students and staff and the greater South Memphis community.
As of September, Lemoyne-owen College has had an on-campus student center via a three-year partnership with Methodist Le Bonheur. In addition to being open for COVID-19 needs, students can go for regular medical needs. The center is also administering flu vaccines and, in the future, will be positioned to vaccinate for COVID-19.
The college hasn’t had a large focus on health education in the past, Johnson-dean said.
“But we certainly have not only a focus, but a renewed interest in also thinking about how health disparities impact education and student participation,” she said.
During wellness checks at the center, which are free to students, they might be screened for elevated cholesterol or any pre-diabetic conditions, JohnsonDean said, then learn from the nurse about ways to advocate for their own health and treatment. Part of those treatment plans could include referrals off campus, along with help identifying grants students might be eligible for that would offset costs, she said.
Albert Mosley, senior vice president and chief mission integration officer at Methodist Le Bonheur, also sits on the college’s board of trustees. Convenience is key for encouraging students to pay attention to their health early in life, he said.
“The more barriers are or the more difficult it is to do something, the less likely we are to do it,” he said. “And so making it convenient for them, having that access there to even just manage basic issues, whether it’s an annual visit, a well visit, or whether it’s something a little bit more severe than that.”
There are underlying issues specific to the Black community that the clinic will be distinctly positioned to address, given that Lemoyne-owen’s population is majority Black.
“We know that there are some underlying health issues that are specific to the African-american community that are also the result of a lot of socioeconomic conditions,” Mosley said.
Ensuring access to quality healthcare is a step toward resolving those problems, also encouraging students to begin focusing on their health at a young age, rather than waiting until an emergency appears later on.
“From our research and research done nationally, you know, people don’t want to be ill,” he said. “Most people want to be well. But there are barriers often that prevent them from being well, and access is one of those main barriers.”
And from Johnson-dean’s view, the clinic will serve as an additional wraparound service to students who might need additional support navigating college, particularly during a pandemic that has disparately affected Black Americans. At Lemoyne-owen, about 90% of the students are Pell Grant eligible, she said. The pandemic has only heightened existing disparities, she said.
“We know that this can be a very taxing time,” Johnson-dean said of the pandemic. “Some of our families have lost jobs and employment and had to reevaluate college and college expenses.”
And Memphis needs more Black college graduates, she said, noting that white students are more likely to graduate college than Black students.
“Given that, I think we have an added responsibility to try to make sure that we create the opportunities where students can graduate from college and get meaningful jobs and employment,” she said.
Another piece of the clinic is its relationship to the greater South Memphis community. Just as students are being educated in preventative care, Johnson-dean hopes to see the clinic eventually able to impact surround families.
The answer has to come from considering: “How does Lemoyne position itself as part of the health and education community, where our community looks to us for education and guidance around topics, but also access points to refer people to permanent health care homes where they have a permanent healthcare provider that they can access without necessarily, you know, rushing to emergency whenever there is a problem,” she said.
Johnson-dean, interim president of the college since the start of the 20192020 academic year, will be succeeded by Vernell Bennett-fairs who begins a permanent presidency on Jan. 5. She plans to strengthen the program and considers it a tool that will help with her recruitment and retention goals for the college.
“For us to be able to have that resource for our students on campus is phenomenal. Even (COVID-19) testing for our students...,” Bennett-fairs said. “That’s going to be a partnership that will yield many benefits.”
Laura Testino covers education and children’s issues for the Commercial Appeal. Reach her at laura.testino@commercialappeal.com or 901-512-3763. Find her on Twitter: @Ldtestino