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Groundbreaking ceremony held for clinic A groundbreaking ceremony for the Enterprise Community/MUSC Neighborhood Health Clinic to serve residents of Charleston and North Charleston’s Enterprise community was held  Sept. 10 at the site of building on Comstock Avenue in North Charleston. Among the participants in the ceremony were Mayor Joseph P. Riley of the City of Charleston, Mayor Keith Summey of North Charleston, MUSC president Dr. James B. Edwards, and Roscoe Mitchell, president, Union Heights Community Council. Designed to serve the health care needs of the community, the clinic will be governed by a board of directors, with the majority of board membership drawn from the community. Also serving on the board will be health professionals from MUSC.  The board will work with the community to ascertain the health service needs of the community and design health services based on these needs. The board has determined that there are numerous unmet needs within the community, particularly in the area of diabetes and hypertension treatment and education. It is expected that there will be an initial emphasis in these areas, and the goal is to expand clinical services to address other priority health needs in partnership with the community. The 4,000-square-foot clinic will consist of exam and procedure rooms, a laboratory, a pharmacy, a triage area, a waiting room and several multi services offices. It is anticipated that the clinic staff will include an administrative director, a nurse practitioner, a physician, a pharmacist, a nutritionist and support staff to link clients with appropriate community resources. The facility is expected to be completed in the summer of 2000. “The clinic will provide a wonderful opportunity for MUSC students to see firsthand how an academic medical center can work closely with the community to help provide unmet health services to the community,” said Jan Bellack, Ph.D., associate provost for educational programs at MUSC. “The students will learn the importance of the community assessing its own needs, and planning for the fulfillment of these needs in partnership with the university.”