Huston-Tillotson Officials Unveil New Health Clinic

EAST AUSTIN, TX -- City leaders joined Huston-Tillotson University officials Tuesday in opening a new, $35 million health clinic on campus designed to cater to under-served residents.

The Sandra Joy Anderson Community Health and Wellness Center was officially opened Tuesday at 1705 E. 11th St. at the intersection with Chalmers Avenue.

The clinic is tailored to the needs of under-served residents in enhancing their access to health care. The center also will offer both medical and behavioral health care services in a primary care setting.

Apart from addressing health disparities, an important part of the new center’s mission is to increase the number of African American physicians in Central Texas.

The medical needs of HT students and faculty members also will be addressed. A health and wellness complex is envisioned to house the kinesiology department and intercollegiate affairs given that one-third of HT’s 1,023 students are athletes who have kinesiology as among their top five majors, university officials said.

“This vision of providing healthcare services to not only the HT community but the broader community at large, speaks to our outreach commitment and the ability to address health disparities in East Austin,” HT President and Chief Executive Officer Colette Pierce Burnette said.

The center was created in partnership with HT, CommUnityCare, Austin Travis County Integral Care and the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin.

The partners are working together in addressing the physical and mental health challenges of the community. The center’s aim is to build new models of care, combined training programs and research to address needs specific to East Austin.

Dr. William Lawson, Associate Dean of Health Disparities at the Dell Medical School, will lead the new center.

The center’s creation was spurred by a $3 million donation to the school--the biggest in the institution’s history--from Ada Cecilia Collins, 94, who attended Samuel Huston and Tillotson, Austin’s two predominantly black colleges before merging.

Collins later earned a master’s degree from the University of Texas-Austin in 1965. The center is named after her late daughter.

CommUnityCare, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), will provide primary medical care services and will occupy 12,000-square feet of the Center. University officials said ATCIC and CommUnityCare, which offers health services across Travis County, have a long record working together and have been on the forefront of bringing community-based integrated physical and mental health services to vulnerable populations in the community.

Another aim of the center is to relieve the strain on Travis County’s mental health resources by adding treatment options and services residents and taxpayers need.

Additionally, the City of Austin committed more than $500,000 to support the center’s startup phase, with additional support coming from the Meadows Foundation ($75,000), and H-E-B ($55,000).

The woman for whom the center is named, Sandra Joy Anderson Baccus, was co-founder and president of several companies in the healthcare and energy industries.

One of her enterprises was Correctional Medical Associates, Inc., which flourished while providing medical and mental health services at the Fulton County Jail for 25 years. Her other company, Baccus Enterprises, invested in solar and other renewable energy sources.

She and her husband also developed Lottery Services of Georgia, a firm that repaired Georgia’s lottery and voting machines.

Apart from her entrepreneurial prowess, Baccus devoted much of her time to community service, fundraising for nonprofits and as an advocate for the arts.

Among those attending the grand opening ceremony for the wellness center were its benefactor, Ada Cecilia Collins Anderson; Huston-Tillotson University President Colette Pierce Burnette; State Sen. Kirk Watson; Austin Mayor Steve Adler; and Central Health President and CEO Patricia “Trish” Young Brown;