WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Inside the UB Kinsey Education and Community Center at the corner of Eighth Street and Division Avenue is a health clinic that doesn't see much foot traffic.
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"We're not getting that traction that we desire to see, and a lot of the understanding is that they just don't know that we're here," said Dr. Monica Cleckley, a nurse practitioner and clinical director of the Florida Atlantic University Community Health Alliance.
For the last five years, FAU has been running a full scale community clinic in the outskirts of downtown West Palm Beach for adults and children.
It's been a lifesaver for people like Carla Davis who used to live across the street. In an area mixed with financial hardship and lack of resources, Davis said she thinks more people would access the health center if they knew about it especially in these tough economic times.
"A hair stylist is my trade and I carried health insurance for myself but as it got too expensive, I had to drop it," Davis said.
The clinic connects offers services that range from primary care to mental health services, women's care and it does lab work. But not for much longer if the patient clientele doesn't pick up.
"I'd like to say that in the next year we're going to be able to say yes we're here to stay and we're not going anywhere, but we certainly have a timeline that we have get there," said Dr. Cameron Duncan, nurse practitioner and dean of the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing at FAU.
And so for now, a waiting room is waiting and working to the word out that it is open and ready to serve.
