Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Chambers County Community Health and Wellness Center in LaFayette is receiving funding for covered pavilions to be built for use by Auburn University Rural Health Project and county residents.

LaFayette Fire Chief James Doody announced to the council that Auburn University recently  received a $15,000 grant from the Coosa Valley Resource Conservation & Development (RC&D) Council for the center’s use. 

The Chambers County Community Health and Wellness Center is a partnership between the city of LaFayette, Auburn University and the Chambers County Commission. The center is on city property. 

The OnMed telehealth station in partnership with Auburn offers free consultations to county residents with licensed clinicians who can prescribe medications and give referrals. 

Students from nursing, pharmacy, speech and language pathology and other departments at Auburn University have conducted screenings to address the healthcare needs of the rural community.

Doody said the pavilion will be used for Auburn kinesthesiology students serving county residents at the wellness center. 

“The Department of Kinesiology will be coming out there soon. They’ll be starting to do mobility exercises and things like that,” Doody said. “And I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want anybody seeing me doing a hula hoop in the front parking lot of the health center.”

The 10×20 covered pavilion will be fitted with ADA-accessible picnic tables, according to Doody.

Since the center opened earlier this year, the number of consultations has continued to increase. Doody said the speech language pathology students and instructors have served over 30 people alone this year. 

On Oct. 27, the wellness center will host an IPE Clinic from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET with screenings and health resources from several Auburn health care departments. All of the services offered are free or at reduced pricing.