The Martin Luther King Health Center is getting a spring makeover, one that will be a permanent home for the center and continue to allow the clinic to meet their mission of providing quality healthcare and pharmacy services to uninsured and underinsured patients. The clinic is moving to 865 Olive St. in Shreveport. 

Janet M. Mentesane, executive director of the Martin Luther King Health Center, has worked in nonprofit management for 25 years and is excited about the new location and renovation. 

“The purpose of the renovation is to update the existing space and to reconfigure part of the space to house the Martin Luther King Health Center pharmacy,” Mentesane said. 

“The Olive Street location was already set up as a medical office with examination rooms and a laboratory area, but it didn’t have a pharmacy space, and the pharmacy is a big part of our program. We dispense over 40,000 prescriptions annually. Last year, our medication program dispensed over $2 million dollars in life sustaining medications.”   

The new location will also offer a separate room for simple procedures. Plus, they will be able to start a Geriatric Specialty Clinic in partnership with Northwestern State University College of Nursing.  “We began our first HIV/AIDS Specialty Clinic in February 2014, in a partnership with The Philadelphia Center,” Mentesane said. “We hope to be able to expand this partnership to two clinic days per month. We also will be expanding our wellness and health education programs.” 

The MLK Center does not receive reimbursement from Medicaid, Medicare or private insurance, but is funded through local support, grants, donated products and volunteer services by local providers. 

“It’s a happy place to work, to volunteer and to be a patient,” Mentesane said.  “Good things can’t help but happen when you surround yourself with great people – this includes our staff, board, volunteer, supporters and patients.”

The MLK Health Center pharmacy holds the first charitable pharmacy license that was issued in Louisiana, and was also awarded the Community Return on Investment award for 2012, which is an annual award the Community Foundation awards to the nonprofit that returns the most value to the community per dollar invested/donated.

“The owner of our current location has plans to sell the building and it was too costly for us to consider purchasing,” said Mentesane. “The Olive Street building was a CHRISTUS property, and Dr. William Lunn, the chief operating officer of CHRISTUS North Louisiana, suggested the location for us. With renovations, the building will fit our needs.” 

The final transaction was completed on Valentine’s Day in 2014.

“It’s so great that we will be able to stay in this vicinity and can still provide medical services for this neighborhood,” Mentesane said.  

“We have a lot of work ahead of us, especially if we are going to get everything ready by our target date of July 18, 2014.”

The center also has a goal to retire the debt for the renovations as soon as possible. “We hope our supporters will want to help us by sponsoring certain parts of the clinic and pharmacy,” Mentesane said. 

“Our contractor, Benny Vaughan Construction, has been great in helping. He is truly a blessing to have on our team.”

To learn more, go to www.mlkhealth.org/.