Ceremony to open medical clinic at Murphy Center

FORT COLLINS — A ribbon-cutting for a medical clinic at Homeward Alliance’s Murphy Center for Hope will be held March 28 in Fort Collins.

SummitStone Health Partners will operate the clinic, providing both physical and behavioral health care for people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity.

The ceremony will be held from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at the center, 242 Conifer St., and is open to the public. Speakers will include Sister Mary Alice Murphy, the namesake of the building and longtime advocate for people experiencing homelessness, and Michael Allen, CEO of SummitStone.

The Murphy Center is a day shelter and a hub of services for people experiencing or at-risk of homelessness in Larimer County. HWA operates the building, and almost 20 onsite agencies provide more than 40 unique services to thousands of individuals and families each year.

The clinic was made possible by a $1 million COVID-relief grant from Larimer County and brings health-care services to community members experiencing homelessness, a subpopulation of people who suffer far higher mortality rates, are less likely to access primary or preventive health care, and are more likely to visit emergency rooms than people who are housed.

“This is a milestone day for the Murphy Center, the community’s homelessness response system, and, most importantly, our neighbors without homes,” said David Rout, Homeward Alliance executive director, in a prepared statement. “We have always referred to the Murphy Center as the hub of resources for people experiencing homelessness. With the addition of a health clinic, that moniker is truer than ever.”

The clinic includes three exam rooms, a waiting room and bathroom. It does not expand the Murphy Center footprint, but rather repurposes existing, underutilized space in the building.

SummitStone has hired new staff and deployed some existing staff members to the clinic, including a prescribing medical professional, a nurse, medical assistants, behavioral-health clinicians, case managers and care coordinators. The new and redeployed staff will work closely with SummitStone staff members already at the Murphy Center; SummitStone has been a cornerstone of Murphy Center operations since the building opened in 2009.

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