Seattle Children's Hospital Opens Second Clinic, Furthering Health Equity Efforts

New clinic offers much more than healthcare and is a 'beacon' to those it serves, medical director says.

Seattle Children's Hospital opened a second clinic location in the city's Othello neighborhood in March, offering a variety of services in addition to pediatric care. The first location will remain open with regular operations and services to patients.

The hospital's first clinic, Odessa Brown Children's Clinic (OBCC), opened in the 1970s in the central district with a grant from the federal government.

"Some community advocates came together to sort of address the lack of healthcare in the black and brown neighborhoods, specifically in Seattle," said Shaquita Bell, MD, senior medical director for the clinics. "And then over time, we grew bigger and bigger and were seeing more and more kids."

Before the opening of the new clinic, OBCC Othello, the original clinic would see about 40,000 children a year, Bell said. They also needed more space and a better connection to public transit, she said.

"It became really hard to find parking, and frankly, our patients were coming from farther and farther away," Bell said. "So, we held some community listening sessions and started to look farther south in the city and came upon the area where we built this second building."

From those listening sessions, they found that many people wanted them to stay in the central district because of the history of the neighborhood being predominately black. OBCC Othello is about five miles away from the first location, with its own Light Rail stop.

Demographics in the area were around 60-70% black in the 1970s, Bell said. Over the years, it has gone down to 40%; however, the clinic's patient population is 60% black. The clinics also serve a significant Latinx population, and she noted, a large refugee and immigrant population.

"Our clinic's founders were all black and the intention really was to serve black and brown communities, and so the staff reflects that, the mission reflects that," Bell said. "When we thought about expanding, people made it really clear that Odessa is what makes this area what it is and that they didn't want us to leave."

Bell added that 30% of their patients prefer a language other than English when getting treated, so  both clinics have in-person translators or iPads to assist providers when they're speaking with patients.

Understanding their patient demographics helps the clinic identify the need for more specialized treatment. For example, seeing how difficult it can be to get an appointment with a dermatologist, particularly those who can treat melanated skin, they have a dermatologist who  comes to the clinic every other week.

In addition to care and treatment, the clinic has social workers who can help families in need apply for federal assistance, emergency bill support, and even housing. During the pandemic, the clinics started the Patient Marketplace, a room filled with things a family may need but doesn't have the means to get. Families can go in and take what they need of items such as  diapers, wipes, toilet paper, or even blankets and shoes.

"COVID has been quite the two years of our life, but it's been really meaningful to be able to be a beacon during this time and to really step into caring for the whole community," Bell said.

Vaccination has been an "absolute priority," and Bell said they've vaccinated around 3,000 people to date. Once they could begin administering vaccinations, they began holding clinics and doing mobile outreach, going to churches, mosques, and libraries to offer vaccines.

"We started to build these really meaningful relationships with community organizations, like the Somali Health Board, and saying 'you all have the cultural knowledge, and you have the space where people feel safe. We can bring the vaccines, and the doctors, and the nurses,'" Bell said. "'But we want to partner with you to make this a meaningful event.'"

Over the duration of the pandemic, and even before, the OBCC clinic has had a close relationship with the community. Initiatives such as coordinated care—where patients can schedule appointments for dental checkups or behavioral health and can also arrange to see a nutrition specialist or social worker while they're there—help address any inequities patients and their families struggle with.

"I hope these models work and that I can share them with people across the country. I feel like it's past time to think about the way that we offer care and really put the patient family community in the center and have services built around that," Bell said. "And perhaps we have COVID to thank for that, because it certainly has inspired us to work harder and to think bigger."