BRYAN, Texas — On Wednesday the Texas A&M Health Science Center opened the Texas A&M Health Hub, providing a one-stop-shop medical home for local residents.
“We're so excited to have this finally opening it's been a long time in the making, bringing together our two clinical missions and our two primary clinical drivers of the College of Medicine both our Department of Primary Care and population health as well as our Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences," said Dr. Amy Waer Dean of Texas A&M College of Medicine. "We've been working on this for a long time bringing those two departments and entities under one roof.”
The first of its kind in the Brazos Valley, the hub is designed to treat the mind and body of patients of all ages here in the Brazos Valley while simultaneously teaching the next generation of health care professionals.
“So we can take care of the entire family mind and body, but congruent with that, we're also creating one of the largest teaching programs in the state of integrated between family medicine and psychiatry. At its combination, we'll have over 50 physicians training here in our facility," said Les Jebson, Executive Director of Clinical Strategy at Texas A&M Health.
At a time where health care workers are critical in our community, the Hub will benefit Texas A&M Health Science students by giving them hands-on experience of team-based care.
“This facility is designed to do just that work as a team, regardless of your discipline, background, whether you're a nursing pharmacist or physician working hand in hand to provide comprehensive primary care and behavioral health services, all in one location," said Jebson.
A key area of focus is that of mental health. Brazos Valley has virtually no mental health services in several county regions. A&M hopes their psychiatric services will fill the gaps within the community.
“Mental health services is a great need in this community as well as out throughout the state of Texas and the United States right now," said Dr. Waer. "So the fact that we can bring additional mental health services to this community and particularly to the health hub with our primary care is just so much of a value-added to this process.”
According to the 2019 Brazos Valley Regional Health Status Assessment conducted by the Texas A&M School of Public Health Center for Community Health Development, the lack of medical specialties and transportation accessing medical care are the largest concerns for Brazos Valley residents.
The Health Hub is addressing these issues by providing services including family care, psychiatry, health care, tele-behavorial care, urgent care, women's health, and pharmacy medication management all to one, convenient location, with plans to add additional services. This type of infrastructure helps create a medical home for all members of the family, from birth through mature adulthood.
The Texas A&M Health Hub is located at 2900 E. 29th Street in Bryan. To make an appointment visit health.tamu.edu/care.