New Clinic Opens In Cascade

Grady Health System and Emory School of Medicine Physician Dr. Charles Moore have teamed up to make more health care services available to low income residents on Atlanta’s west side.

Moore’s HEALing (Health, Education, Assessment and Leadership) Community Center recently relocated to the site of Grady’s former Otis Smith Neighborhood Health Center at 2600 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

Grady’s Chief of Otolaryngology and Emory School of Medicine faculty member, Moore launched the center more than seven years ago in response to what he called an overwhelming disparity in the cancer survival rates of his patients who had health insurance and those who did not. 

With the help of private donors and community sponsors, Moore traveled across the metro Atlanta area, providing free health screenings for the uninsured. As the demand for his services grew, he launched a mobile clinic that provided cancer screenings and other general medical care for the city’s most underserved populations. 

The HEALing Community Center now houses a large, renovated clinical space that includes 15 exam rooms, a mental health center and offices for physicians and nurses. The clinic has recently added cardiology, OB/GYN care and an organic gardening program. Moore anticipates that the program will soon grow to include oral health/dental services as well.

Through a collaborative partnership with Grady, Emory School of Medicine and other community partners, the center has formed a network of in-kind donations, volunteer physicians and medical students that have helped reduce its nearly $2.2M operating costs by over $1.5M per year.