"Affordable, accessible health care surely is among the most critical social issues we must address. I see this project as a dream in the making. Perhaps the most gratifying aspect of this dream is that it is firmly grounded in reality. We are carefully making our plans, using every resource at our disposal, and working diligently to create something of lasting value. Good health is a treasured possession; its attainment and maintenance are not only the responsibility of the individual but of society as a whole. We must join together to build this Clinic, for the betterment of us all."August 1998

The Center for Health and Wellness, Inc. (CHW) is a state-of –the –art primary health care facility designed to meet the needs of the predominately African-American community in northeast Wichita. The purpose of the Center is to provide a first-class, affordable family health care facility to approve access to primary health care services and focus on prevention and wellness for this traditionally under-served population.

The Center for Health and Wellness represents a paradigm shift in health care for Wichita's African-American community. Instead of relying on emergency room care or low-income clinics that focus on treatment of an often-progressed illness, the Center focuses on prevention and wellness education and decreasing high-risk behaviors. Health cannot be achieved by a medical model alone. In fact, impact on health status is only 10% attributable to medical care. The remaining 90% are split between lifestyle (50%), genetics (20%) and environment 20%). How people live, get sick, and die depends to a greater extent on socioeconomic factors such as income, level of education, occupation, lifestyle, sex, age and class. Historically, some minorities have experienced years of oppression, prejudice, poverty and an uphill battle to achieve self-determination. These translate to lower self-esteem which in turn can explain higher incidences of self-inflicted injuries, suicides, homicides, substance abuse, juvenile delinquency, and domestic violence.