Contact: Ellen Bank
843.792.2626
July 27, 2005
CHARLESTON -- A new outreach family medicine practice serving
the East Cooper area will open August 1. The Medical University of South Carolina
(MUSC) Department of Family Medicine will operate the practice within the East
Cooper Community Outreach (ECCO) building at 1145 Six Mile Road in Mt. Pleasant.
The practice will provide Mt. Pleasant residents needing primary care service
with easy access to physicians on faculty of the Medical University of South
Carolina Family Medicine Department. On August 1, it will begin accepting new
patients, including those with Medicaid and Medicare.
“We are pleased to be able to provide this service to the medically underserved
East Cooper population,” said William Hueston, M.D., professor and chairman
of the Department of Family Medicine. “The ECCO staff and East Cooper
Hospital have indicated to us that they are providing service to an increasing
number of Medicare recipients who are having difficulty getting access to care
in the Mt. Pleasant area because practices are not accepting Medicare patients.”
ECCO, a 501(c) (3) charitable organization founded in 1989, provides a range
of services and programs often in partnership with other organizations and agencies
to assist the underserved east of the Cooper and parts of lower Berkeley County.
Services include a food pantry, dental clinic, prescription medicine and health
screening program, utilities and other financial needs assistance, donated clothing
and other need based services.
In addition, beginning in the fall, the Department of Family Medicine plans
to operate a student-run free clinic in the evening, offering additional care
to the underserved patients in the area as well as providing supplementary clinical
experience for MUSC students and serving as an example of the service-learning
concept that is being incorporated into the MUSC curriculum.
The new practice underscores a history of cooperation between MUSC and
ECCO. Students from the College of Dental Medicine have long assisted volunteer
dentists at ECCO’s dental clinic; and the College of Nursing administers
the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) funded “Reach 2010” diabetes
program that offers diabetes education classes weekly at ECCO to serve patients
east of the Cooper. The Department of Family Medicine and ECCO welcome this
new opportunity to build on this collaboration in service to the community.
Appointments can be made by calling 792-3451.
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