Columbia Community Family Practice opens for college students and Eau Claire neighborhood

Eau Claire Cooperative Health Center opened a family practice on the Columbia College campus to serve both students and the North Main Street and Eau Claire neighborhoods.

The health center, named Columbia Community Family Practice, offers a wide range of services regardless of insurance status or a patient’s ability to pay. The family practice at 4808 Colonial Drive is a Federally Qualified Health Center and a Federal Tort Claims Act deemed facility that operates as an independent non-profit organization.

“Community health also helps to reduce health gaps caused by differences in race and ethnicity, location, social status, income and other factors that can affect health. It is a communal effort entrusted by stakeholders, bonded by a shared vision,” said Peatra Cruz, the chief of organizational development and communications for Eau Claire Cooperative Health.

Patients can get family medicine, pediatrics, behavioral medicine and counseling services at this new location. Appointments or walk-ins will be accepted at the 2,000-square-foot center, which is a partnership between the college and the Eau Claire Cooperative Health Center.

Columbia College offered its building and land in a long-term lease agreement with Eau Claire Cooperative Health, according to the college’s Executive Vice President Francis Schodowski. Donations from Sisters of Charity and South Carolina Physicians Care Charity also contributed to the new health center.

“We at Columbia College don’t see ourselves as an island,” said Columbia College President Tom Bogart. “We see ourselves as an integral component of the Eau Claire neighborhood, the North Main area, the city of Columbia and beyond.”

This health center will be the only one on Columbia College’s campus. Eau Claire Cooperative Health serves Richland, Lexington, Fairfield and Newberry counties.

Columbia Councilman Sam Davis, who represents the North Columbia area, said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, “It’s good to know now that people can come again to one location and be served, be appreciated and partnered with the entities that they’ve always depended on.”