A ‘medical home for the underserved’

Levonda Goodson, the new CEO of the Estella Byrd Whitman Community Health Center, poses for a photo at the Estella Byrd Whitman Community Health Center on Northwest 7th Street in Ocala, Fla. on Monday, April 29, 2024. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024.

West Ocala’s Estella Byrd Whitman Community Health Center stands as an oasis in what has been called a health care desert.

The nonprofit health center is located at 819 NW. 7th St., within an area bordered by Interstate 75, Pine Avenue, Southwest College Road and Northwest 28th Place, which the Ocala City Council defined in 2015 as “blighted” as per Florida Statute. The area is generally within Marion County’s zip code 34475, which is considered a Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Area by the Health Resources & Services Administration, first designated in 1986 and updated in 2021.

Levonda Goodson, 49, a licensed practical nurse, or LPN, and 24-year veteran of the health care field, including 14 years with the Heart of Florida Heath Center, a local source of affordable primary care, recently became CEO of the Estella Byrd Whitman center.

Goodson, a native of Summerfield, said there is “no other primary care in close proximity to the 34475 area, which has been deemed federally as a medical desert” and that residents typically have turned to local hospital emergency departments for help.

“We want to provide a medical home for the underserved,” Goodson stated.

The patient numbers are increasing weekly, she indicated. In the last quarter of 2023, fewer than 100 patients were seen. In the first quarter of 2024, 109 patients were seen at the health center, which also offers telehealth appointments.

Paul Washington, 60, who lives near the health center, suffered a stroke several years ago. Thanks to a referral from the center, he received the care he needed and continues to be a patient.

“They take good care of me,” he said.

Murtis Palmer, 74, who also lives close to the health center, is aware the facility will take walk-in patients without primary care physicians, who otherwise most likely would have gone to local hospital emergency departments. She took a class in diabetes management there, which is one example of health education opportunities available through the center and received a certificate.

The health center is funded in part by the Marion County Hospital District and city and state funding and works in partnership with AdventHealth, Care 360 and the Ocala Fire Rescue Community Paramedicine program.
Capt. James Hickman of the paramedicine program stated in an email that the health center helps “greatly in establishing primary care for those in need.”

The health center sees a mix of insured and uninsured patients.

Goodson said plans for the health center include offering community partnerships, education and encouragement of “positive habits” in diet to help combat diabetes and hypertension which are illnesses seen in the area around the center.

“Education is a huge component of overcoming these disease processes,” she stated.

The health center’s 1,650-square-foot modular building houses two exam rooms, a waiting room and offices. The medical staff includes volunteer medical director Dr. Tabatha Rios, who is at the clinic on specific days, three volunteer practitioners and a patient experience liaison who coordinates with local hospitals when patients receive, for example, physical rehabilitation and coordinates “continuity of care,” Goodson explained.

Tracy Hope is the office manager. Heather James is the director of community engagement and community relations for the health center.

TeFanya Kendrick is a community health associate whose duties include teaching diabetes classes and assisting with insurance, food stamps and doctor appointments.

“We don’t turn anyone away,” Kendrick said.

Making good on a promise

Carolyn Adams, founder of the Estella Byrd Whitman Community Health Center is shown in this Ocala Gazette file photo.

The establishment of the community health center was the fulfillment of a promise built on a promise. Carolyn Adams, co-founder with her late husband, Arthur Adams, explained the history of the health center, which was named after her grandmother.

Adams wrote that she left the Tucker Hill area of West Ocala in 1973 and returned in 2008. She had earned a master’s degree and worked in the field of mental health and was an assistant hospital administrator for six years. Her grandmother asked her to return to “help the community” .

“I was totally shocked to find the community to be in a food and healthcare desert,” she wrote.

“My grandmother was well respected by the community…(and she)  felt that she was leaving this earth too soon, only if her condition could be treated aggressively but, her skin was a different color,” Carolyn Adams wrote.

“I had shared this information with my husband. It was he who pushed for the clinic to be named after my grandmother. It was her land that we used to help make the clinic a reality. He donated the clinic to the city for $1 for the next 60 years,” she stated.

“I promised my husband that I would put an additional 10 years into the clinic. This was a promise to each other. My husband passed away in 2013,” she wrote.

Adams and Dr. Pamela Lewin worked three days a week without salary to build the clinic.

The health center was operated out of Saint Paul’s African Methodist Episcopal Church at 718 NW 7th St. until 2018, when zoning was approved by the city of Ocala and a modular building was set on the former site of Adams’ grandmother’s home. A plaque on the building, dated March 2018, expresses “special appreciation” to the city of Ocala and Friends Recycling.

“I was able to (bring in Goodson as CEO) to help me maintain the vision of the Estella Byrd Whitman clinic. She had promised to maintain the vision. I am currently serving as board director and founder,” Adams wrote.

Moving forward

State Sen. Keith Perry toured the health center in 2022 and was so moved by the mission and impact of the clinic he made a personal donation. In 2023, his office assisted the health center in applying for and securing a $250,000 state appropriation through a legislative program for local programs, according to Suzanne McGuire, the senator’s chief of staff. Adams said the funding helped with clinic staffing.

Rev. Eric Cummings, pastor of New Zion Missionary Baptist Church, a 200-member church located a few blocks from the health center, said the facility is “definitely a greatly needed thing” and that health education is needed for the community on diseases like diabetes. He said he feels the health center needs more “marketing” in the community to increase awareness.

Goodson stated in a text that a large part of her plan is increasing awareness to let families know that health care is available in the neighborhood and that they may not need to visit a hospital.

“On April 17, we initiated our first ‘Boots on the Ground’ of going out to the community and sharing who Estella Byrd Whitman Community Health Center is and what services it offers. We knocked on doors, spoke with people, left brochures at community centers, in mailboxes, doors and on cars,” Goodson wrote.

“I plan to get out to our community once a month to give awareness of the resource they have right in their backyard.  Also, we are partnering and participating with other agencies with health fairs and outreach events. My plan is for the EBWCHC logo to be recognized and known throughout Ocala,” she stated.

“If we can save one life and infect them with positive lifestyle changes, I know we are on the right track. That will keep me motivated to do even more,” she said. “In a year and a half, I plan to outgrow this building.”

To learn more, go to estellawellness.com or call (352) 875-2226.

Levonda Goodson, the new CEO of the Estella Byrd Whitman Community Health Center, poses for a photo at the Estella Byrd Whitman Community Health Center on Northwest 7th Street in Ocala, Fla. on Monday, April 29, 2024. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024.