The Dr. Irons HealthAssist Clinic at JOY Community Center officially opened its doors on Tuesday, Sept. 10, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by Dr. Thomas Irons.
The clinic will provide free non-emergent health care and disease management services to uninsured individuals in the community.
Dr. Irons, a lifelong advocate for community health, served as the chief medical officer for Access East, a nonprofit ECU Health affiliate. He recently retired from his distinguished career as a professor at East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine, where he was also a pediatric physician. In recognition of his decades of service, Dr. Irons was awarded the Order of the Longleaf Pine, North Carolina’s highest civilian honor.
The clinic, also known as the Pitt County Care Clinic at JOY, is housed within the same building as the JOY Soup Kitchen and has been serving patients in various capacities for over a year. It provides comprehensive wraparound health services, including medication assistance, patient education and connections to local resources. The clinic also hosts regular outreach events with community partners such as PiCASO (Pitt County AIDS Service Organization) and the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina.
Equipped with two standard exam rooms, the clinic will offer free care for non-emergency conditions like colds, bug bites and rashes, as well as manage chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. In-house lab testing for A1C blood-sugar levels and cholesterol will be available, along with COVID-19 testing kits.
Uninsured patients from Pitt and surrounding counties, including Beaufort, Greene, Edgecombe, Hertford, and Martin, will also have the opportunity to join the Access East HealthAssist program, which helps coordinate more comprehensive health care at no cost.
The clinic is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a nurse practitioner available on Wednesdays. Dr. Irons will mentor the clinic’s new nurse practitioner, a recent Duke University graduate. The JOY Community Center & Soup Kitchen is located at 700 Albemarle Ave. in Greenville.