A new primary care practice will open later this month in the revitalized Edmondson Village Shopping Center, providing West Baltimore residents with greater access to chronic disease management, behavioral health support and social services.
Ascension St. Agnes Hospital held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Nov. 13 for the practice that is expected to serve more than 4,300 patients each year with as many as 9,300 annual visits. The practice is a strategic investment for the nonprofit Catholic health care system to combat the higher rates of diabetes and hypertension in the underserved community.
Archbishop William E. Lori offered a blessing before a gathering of health care providers and government leaders, including Dr. Michelle Taylor, Baltimore City’s health commissioner, and Baltimore City Councilman Paris Gray.
“Gracious God, source of all life and love, through your Son, you commanded your people to care compassionately for the sick,” the archbishop said. “By the grace of the Holy Spirit, make this clinic a house of blessing and a center of love, where our health care professionals practice the art of healing wisely, where they tend the sick with care and where those in need find understanding and compassion.”
The Primary Care Edmondson Village practice will feature a multidisciplinary care team that will include physicians, advanced practice providers, nurse case managers, social workers, care coordinators, behavioral health providers and diabetes educators.
Beau Higginbotham, CEO and president of Ascension St. Agnes, said the practice will expand the essential services the health system provides the community.
“We’re proud to bring accessible, compassionate care closer to where our neighbors live and work, and we look forward to building lasting relationships with patients and families in the community,” Higginbotham said.
Click play below to watch a video of Archbishop Lori’s remarks at the groundbreaking ceremony. Story continues beneath
Ascension St. Agnes’ mobile health unit has been serving the West and Southwest Baltimore communities since December 2023. But the health system’s commitment goes back to 1862 when the Daughters of Charity founded Baltimore’s first Catholic hospital.
Today, the hospital offers a full range of services, including its 254-bed teaching hospital, 30 community locations and an extensive network of primary and specialty physicians. Locations in Baltimore, Catonsville, Columbia, Elkridge and Ellicott City provide preventive care, manage chronic conditions and connect patients with specialty care for advanced health conditions.
Dorothy Cunningham, a parishioner of St. Joseph’s Monastery in Irvington, said the neighborhood has been without such a resource for many years.
“I am sure everybody will be coming out,” Cunningham said. “Most people don’t have transportation to get to doctor’s offices, so this is a perfect location. It is going to make a big impact on this community.”
The practice is supported by funding from the Maryland Department of Health and the Health Services Cost Review Commission through the Episode Quality Improvement-Primary Care (EQIP-PC) Program. The state’s investment aims to increase access to advanced primary care in currently underserved areas, including those where there has been a shortage of primary-care providers who treat patients with low incomes and accept Medicaid, such as West Baltimore.
According to Ascension St. Agnes, local residents turn to the hospital for care at a higher rate than other community members, and more than half of the hospital patients from the area are covered by Medicaid.
The 5,000-square-foot primary-care practice is one of many new amenities in the revitalized Edmondson Village Shopping Center. A grocery store, restaurants and an assortment of national retailers are among the center’s new tenants following its redevelopment by Chicago TREND’s nonprofit arm, the TREND Community Development Corp., along with a group of more than 200 community investors and city and state contributions.
The shopping center first opened in 1947, and Archbishop Lori said he has been excited to see it come back to life.
“This primary-care practice at the newly revitalized Edmondson Village Shopping Center represents an investment, not only in health care, but also in the dignity and well-being of the broader community,” Archbishop Lori said.
“God has formed each of us and knows us intimately. The patients who will be seen here are created, body and soul, in the image of God. Every one of them has an inherent and measurable worth,” he said.
