Access Health Louisiana’s St. Charles Community Health Center, located near the Shell plant at 16004 River Road in Norco, recently re-opened to welcome back patients after being shuttered due to damage sustained by Hurricane Ida.
Chenier Reynolds-Montz, Vice President of School Health and Strategic Media for AHL, said the reopening means that families living on the east bank of the parish now have more access to health care closer to home. She added that the St. Charles Community Health Center continues to play a vital role in building a stronger, healthier parish.
“We thank Parish President Matthew Jewell and his parish council members for their continued support in helping us to re-open our doors,” Reynolds-Montz said. “He and his team work tirelessly to ensure that families living in St. Charles Parish have great access to high quality, affordable care, which in turn, creates a better quality of life for all St. Charles residents.”
Melanie Taylor, Director of Operations for the Norco site, said the health unit has added new clinic providers and services to support the community.
“It has been wonderful to see so many familiar faces come back to their medical home here at the health center,” she said.
Family Nurse Practitioner Sherry Aucoin has been added to the practice, and will join Dr. Sudha Mardia as she sees both pediatric and adult patients. Other services available include podiatry with Dr. Anthony Perry and health coaching with Destrehan High School alum Danielle Barrios. Patients seeking behavioral health services can receive medication management, counseling, and other support services.
“We are excited to introduce one of our newest programs ‘Medication Assisted Treatment’”, Vanice Zenon, Vice President of Behavioral Health for AHL, said. “This program uses medications, in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, to provide a ‘whole patient’ approach to the treatment of opioid use disorders. Our highly qualified team of psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, medical psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, and licensed professional counselors can help patients who are experiencing a variety of mental/behavioral health issues.”
The St. Charles Community Health Center staff continued to provide services to patients despite its physical building being closed for repairs over the past year. Some patients were seen in person at the nearby Luling clinic at 843 Milling Avenue, while others engaged with their providers through telemedicine appointments.
Reynolds-Montz said that while repairs were going on inside the Norco clinic, AHL teamed up with local community groups, churches, and the American Red Cross to continue to help St. Charles Parish families rebuild after Hurricane Ida.
“Pastor D. B. Molliere of Good Hope Church, Dwayne LaGrange, and church members handed out hot meals and free cleaning supplies with Access Health Louisiana’s outreach team,” she said. “The community health center has come a long way since its original grand opening on June 12, 2012. At that time, the clinic operated out of a small portable building on Apple Street. Despite its small size, the health center quickly became a critical resource providing healthcare for families, even those who are uninsured, living in the River Region.”
For more information on Access Health Louisiana, visit accesshealthla.org.
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