'Game-changer': TMH opening Urgent Care Center in Frenchtown on West Tennessee Street
Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare is about a month away from opening its latest Urgent Care Center.
Located at 410 W. Tennessee Street, the 4,000 square-foot facility will occupy a former optometry office within a strip mall that used to be home to other businesses, including a florist. Services at the facility will include diagnostic services, such as labs and X-rays.
"Our goal as a healthcare system is to help all patients access the appropriate level of care for their individual needs," said Rebecca Tubito, a spokesperson at TMH, in an email to the Tallahassee Democrat. "For minor illnesses and injuries, an Urgent Care Center is the quickest, most cost-effective way to deliver quality healthcare when and where our patients need it, and in this case, right in their neighborhood."
TMH purchased the land from Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, the driving force behind bringing a healthcare facility to the low-income Frenchtown area. Property records show TMH purchased the half-acre lot from Bethel in February 2022 for $725,000. Within two months, TMH began the planning and design phase, and construction began a year later in April 2023.
The West Tennessee Street site will be TMH's third Urgent Care Center in Leon County. Other sites are located at 1541 Medical Drive and 3900 Esplanade Way in Southwood. Plans also are underway to build a facility in Wakulla County.
Urgent Care Centers are designed to relieve patient volume in emergency rooms and provide care for non-life-threatening conditions, such as rashes, infections, sprains and lingering cold or flu symptoms. In 2022, TMH fielded more than 137,000 visits at its ER and urgent care centers, Tubito said.
How this project took shape
On West Tennessee Street, cars whiz by and pass the hospital's signature shades of blue square mosaics on the Urgent Care Center's exterior.
It's a noticeable sight in Frenchtown, the oldest historically Black neighborhood in Florida that's struggled to attract robust retail and commercial activity. TMH's presence signals the culmination of a decades-long effort to bring healthcare to the area.
"We must continue to be focused, steadfast and clear-eyed about how a Black church, in particular Bethel and other churches, can forge significant partnerships with a power structure to buy into a strategy of literally closing these housing, health and food deserts," said the Rev. R.B. Holmes Jr., who's served as Bethel's pastor for 37 years.
He went on to say the "first-class facility in Frenchtown is a game changer from a health perspective," adding it can be a model for other underserved communities.
The facility will serve the neighborhood's population of roughly 3,190 residents. More than half live below the poverty line, according documents with the Community Redevelopment Agency. Roughly 29 percent are college students.
The historic neighborhood straddles downtown Tallahassee and the governor's mansion. It borders Florida State's campus, which has drawn at least two large student housing developments within a mile of the Urgent Care Center.
Several years ago, a 310,000-square-foot project within the 400 Block of West Tennessee Street was proposed and ultimately fizzled. It was led by Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, Frenchtown property owners and others who were referred to as the Frenchtown Partners.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic shined a brighter light on healthcare needs for underserved communities. Holmes said a healthcare facility had been part of the church's vison for the land since it was acquired years ago. Healthcare, he said, is a critical part in the creation of holistic community building.
"What we want to do is replicate what we see on the other side of town," Holmes said. "Why can't we have the same thing in Frenchtown and Ridge Road and the south side."
Contact Reporter TaMaryn Waters at tlwaters@tallahassee.com. Follow @TaMarynWaters on X.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: TMH opening Urgent Care Center in Frenchtown on West Tennessee Street
