COMMUNITY INITIATIVES
Community & Economic Impact
Meharry Medical College is a dedicated health advocate for the Nashville community; especially those who are uninsured or underinsured, and those who have limited access to medical care.
Each year Meharry provides an uncompensated $26 million in medical and dental care to the local Nashville community at no cost to the patient. Additionally, Meharry reaches out to the community through a variety of programs that aid underserved populations such as the homeless and the elderly to help improve the quality of their health care.
Outreach programs at Meharry improve the quality of life for those in our community, one person at a time.
The HBCU Wellness Project
Learn about the project, and how we promote good health in the community.
Go to HBCU Wellness >
Salt Wagon Student-run Free Health Clinic
A student-run free clinic under the supervision of faculty physicians at Meharry Medical College.
Go to Salt Wagon Clinic @ Meharry >
The Wilda Siebert Adopt-A-Grandparent Program began at Meharry nearly 30 years ago to provide much needed dental care to low income seniors. Since its inception, more than 2,000 seniors have received free dentures and screenings.
Adopt-A-Grandparent is made possible by a grant from the Kendall Fund Foundation, a part of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). UMCOR’s mission is to alleviate human suffering with open minds to all religions and open hearts to all people.
To be eligible, seniors must be at least 50 years old, live in Davidson County public housing, and be referred by the resident area coordinator of the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency.
Grandparents in the program are paired with student dentists. Patients receive a free screening and students examine their mouths thoroughly to look for broken tooth fragments, lesions or any type of abnormalities. Those who need dentures are scheduled for a follow-up visit where a student dentist provides them with the new set of teeth.
For more information contact the Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry at 615-327-6682.
Since 1989 Project Project C.O.P.E. (Community Outreach Prevention and Education) has provided HIV/AIDS education sessions, outreach, short-term counseling, presentations, and free testing throughout Davidson County, particularly the North Nashville community.
Our goal and mission is to decrease the number of positive diagnosed HIV/AIDS individuals primarily through education, outreach and testing.
As an Early Intervention Service Program, Project C.O.P.E. is designed to:
- Prevent individuals from becoming infected with and/or transmitting HIV
- Make early intervention services for HIV/AIDS available to individuals in alcohol and drug abuse treatment programs
- Identify and refer individuals needing social and medical services for HIV/AIDS to the appropriate services
Services include:
- Short-term counseling services to individuals and/or families
- Educational Activities to groups
- Oral Rapid HIV testing to individuals, including pre and post test counseling
- Ongoing training activities to increase the knowledge of HIV and AIDS for alcohol and drug abuse treatment agencies
Service goals:
- To increase the number of individuals identified who are at risk for contracting and/or transmitting HIV/AIDS
- To prevent individuals from becoming infected with and/or transmitting HIV/AIDS
- To increase the knowledge of HIV/AIDS to those persons who are at risk and their families
- To make early intervention services for HIV/AIDS available to individuals in alcohol and drug treatment programs
- Identify and refer individuals needing social and medical services for HIV/AIDS to the appropriate services
- To increase the knowledge and skills of alcohol and drug treatment professionals regarding HIV/AIDS
- To continually assess the needs of alcohol and drug abuse treatment programs and coordinate liaison and service delivery for potential service recipients
Contact Project C.O.P.E.
Project C.O.P.E
Lloyd C. Elam Mental Health Center
1005 D. B. Todd Jr. Blvd.
Nashville, TN 37208
Phone: 615.327.6484
Fax: 615.321.2951
The Rainbow Program is an innovative addiction treatment program designed exclusively and specifically for pregnant or post-partum women who are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol.
Alcohol and drug addiction is a progressive disease that progress through predictable stages. We offer trained and licensed professionals that specialize in addiction medicine and pre and post natal care. The Rainbow program offers a variety of treatment programs that meet individual need. Patients receive a comprehensive assessment to determine the proper treatment level of care.
The Rainbow Program recognizes that women who use drugs face different problems during their lives than men. Research indicates that almost 75 percent of these women report histories of physical and sexual abuse. Societal problems often make women have poor self-confidence, low self-esteem and leave them with a feeling of being powerless over their lives. In addition, minority women may face additional challenges of cultural and language barriers that can interfere their treatment and recovery.
The Rainbow treatment program offers a wide range of services to include residential, intensive outpatient, and outpatient treatment. Other wrap around services include mental health symptom and medication management; Food, clothing, and shelter referrals; Transportation; Parenting training ; Family and couples counseling; Child care; Family planning services and other social services referrals.
Contact RAINBOW
Lloyd C. Elam Mental Health Center
at Meharry Medical College
Rainbow Program
Samuel R. Scales, LPC-MHSP
615.327.6808
Adella Harris
615.327.6013
The Salt Wagon Clinic @ Meharry is a student-run free clinic under the supervision of faculty physicians at Meharry Medical College. It was founded by Meharry students and established in partnership with the United Neighborhoods Health Services clinic network. Its mission is to address health care disparities within our community by providing free, high-quality care to Nashville’s underserved populations and by serving as a clinical skills training ground for students, inspiring the next generation of primary care specialists.
Services include free primary care and after hours access to care.
The Salt Wagon Clinic @ Meharry serves to both enrich the educational experience of students and provide top-quality health care at no cost to an underserved community. This community clinic is made possible by the dedicated student and faculty volunteers at Meharry, as well as donors and institutional support.
Visit us on the Meharry campus at 1818 Albion Street, Nashville, Tennessee 37208, or the Pediatrics Center on the second floor of Nashville General Hospital. Our student physicians are waiting to see you every Thursday night from 6 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. Patients are seen by appointment only.
Please call 615.378.7585 today to schedule your appointment.
Contact Salt Wagon Clinic @ Meharry
Salt Wagon Clinic @ Meharry
1818 Albion Street
Nashville, TN 37208
Pediatrics Center on the second floor of Nashville General Hospital
A fun and educational alternative to traditional prenatal care
Meharry Medical College is located in the heart of Nashville’s 37208 zip code, an area with one of the highest rates of infant mortality in the Nashville area. The prenatal care program at Meharry is working to reduce infant mortality and has already aided in the birth of dozens of healthy babies.
Prenatal care at Meharry follows a new model of group prenatal care. Instead of traditional doctor visits, women in this program meet in small groups and spend up to two hours in each session – eight times longer than a typical doctor’s visit.
Each group session begins with a private physical assessment of each expectant mother. After some time for snacks and socializing, the expectant mothers begin discussing topics important to them such as nutrition, changes in their bodies, and how to care for themselves in a way that will produce healthy babies.
The prenatal care program offers group support, a place for women to air concerns about their pregnancies, and an opportunity for women to be active in their own care. The goal of the program is to help women feel a greater sense of empowerment and confidence in themselves and their ability to care for their new baby and their family.
The program is a result of funding received from the State of Tennessee’s Governor’s Office of Child Care Coordination.
Contact Centering Pregnancy
Prenatal Care at Meharry
1005 Dr. D. B. Todd Jr. Blvd.
Nashville, TN 37208
615.321.2962
NCMI seeks to promote the use of community mapping, data visualization, and citizen science to address health disparities. The NCMI has engaged students in local schools to use public participatory geographic information systems to map potential mosquito grounds and safe routes to school. It also supports an annual Public Health Hackathon that brings together computer programmers and public health personnel to work together to identify local public health concerns and strengthen the local public health response.