The Clinic at Mercury Courts

The Clinic at Mercury Courts is a Nurse Managed Health Center established by Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in collaboration with Urban Housing Solution, a not for profit housing organizations providing affordable, permanent housing for low income and recently homeless individuals and families. Our ongoing goal is to provide a stabilizing influence for this often neglected and overlooked part of the Nashville community while also educating our next generation of healthcare providers. We are accomplishing this by utilizing a holistic and collaborative healthcare model incorporating the disciplines of nursing, medicine, pharmacy, social service and the individual as equal partners on the healthcare team.

We have had our doors open for only 3 months but already, we can tell this is going to be a great experience. Everybody has been great are almost having to turn away volunteers and supported...Almost.  It has been very encouraging all the support we have gotten. In fact, just last week our clinic was able to collaborate with the Vanderbilt Center for Integrative Heath, Shade Tree Clinic, and Mission Point to co-sponsor the Nashville Premier of Escape Fire:The Fight to Rescue American Health Care.  It was a wild success!!! The film was excellent (I saw it twice already) and the post discussion was very enlightening.  I particularly enjoyed seeing the interactions between the different health disciplines. It gave me quite a bit of needed hope for health cares future. 

In fact, it reminded me of what we are doing at the Clinic at Mercury Courts.  This Clinic is starting from a base of interdisciplinary practice like I have rarely seen in 15 years of clinical practice. My continued hope is that we will be one of many catalysts that spark new life into the American healthcare system.