A new UF Health urgent care clinic on the east side of Gainesville hosted an open house on Saturday to welcome the community.
UF Health Urgent Care Center–Eastside is a collaboration between UF Health, the city of Gainesville and Alachua County.
The county and city each used $2.25 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding to build the clinic, and UF Health has pledged to run it for at least 20 years, though assistant director and center administrator Gailine McCaslin said UF Health will continue to “do what we need to do for the community.”
The clinic’s creation started with a year of community feedback, where four listening sessions provided the opportunity for people to air grievances and share hopes for what the clinic could be.
McCaslin said the Eastside community brought a lot of frustrations in the early listening sessions, some surrounding UF’s closing of Alachua General Hospital (AGH) in 2009 to become the Florida Innovation Square.
Though many on the east side of town identified with AGH, Mayor Harvey Ward, who grew up in Eastside himself, noted that the hospital was still west of Waldo Road. Ward said Eastside has never had its own medical facility like this.
Ward said while the clinic will be important from a healthcare perspective, by bringing an access point into Eastside, the community ownership element would be even more important.
“Folks who are living in these neighborhoods are going to be able to feel like this is their medical facility,” Ward said. “And no, it’s not a hospital, but most of Gainesville doesn’t have a hospital in their backyard. I live miles away from UF Shands. But being close to a medical facility, with community meeting space, that you can feel like it’s yours, it’s huge. It’s a big, big deal.”
McCaslin said the community input formed much of the facility’s plan, which includes extended hours, a multipurpose community room, local photographers’ work displayed on the walls, and Eastside residents hired to fill positions.
UF Health has scheduled a ribbon cutting for Aug. 14, and the clinic is set to open with the following hours of operation on Aug. 15:
- Monday-Friday: 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
- Saturday: 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
- Sunday: Noon-4 p.m.
After observing the community’s use of the clinic, the hours may change as UF Health determines which hours are in the highest demand.
McCaslin compared the clinic’s creation to a baton race that started with visioning, then passed to the commitment of resources.
“I would say the final leg of that race would be the community,” McCaslin said. “How the community continues to show up, how we keep embracing the community and hearing ‘what else’ because we just don’t want to stop here. We’re showing up and we really want to keep showing up.”
The clinic sits on 37 acres that Ward said the city hopes to develop into a larger health and economic development project. The next steps will be a through-street from Hawthorne Road to SE 8th Ave., then a transfer station for the Gainesville Regional Transit System (RTS).
Citizen Jacquelyn Collins said she has lived in Eastside for over 50 years, and though a lot has changed in that time, she sees East Gainesville being overlooked. She said the east side of town is a “food desert,” with no grocery stores.
“I’m just grateful to see value being placed on the Eastside… I’m nothing but excited, and proud,” Collins said.
