Heal the City moves forward with plans for new ‘FIT Center’

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Heal the City has received the green light to expand, creating a new wellness center at their facility.

The health clinic offers free services to those who are uninsured and cannot afford treatment through any other program.

Initially, the clinic started at a home after Dr. Alan Keister saw the need for free health care in the community.

Now, six years later, the clinic has transformed an old YMCA building into a health care facility that is continuing to grow with their ‘Fit center.’

Fit stands for faith in transformation and will be located where the YMCA pool used to be.

Out of all the things they could put in this space, they decided for a wellness center to add a well-rounded form of health care.

“For a lot of our patients, they don’t really have access to a wellness or fitness center,” said Dr. Alan Keiser, founder of Heal the City “Either because logistically where they live or just because they really can’t afford to have a membership at a gym or a health club, so this is something, we will be able to provide for our patients.”

The plans are for this center to primarily serve those patients with chronic illnesses, like diabetes. These patients will be required to attend classes to remain in their program.

The clinic already offers medical, dental, and pharmacy services but will use this space to expand beyond the physical aspect.

“Programs like grief counseling, teaching individuals how to cook, new foods, all kinds of things, financial literacy, parenting. So, really it ties back to that very holistic approach of that whole person, whole body type of health care,” said Lisa Lloyd, development director at Heal the City

The center will include a walking track, classrooms, spaces for group exercise and group educations courses.

At the moment they expect the center to serve the over 500 patients they have with chronic illnesses, but plan to add more as applications are reviewed.

Those eligible must have a chronic illness and not have access to health care elsewhere.

They also said making the center open to the public in the future is on the table but at the moment they are focused on serving those already in their program.

Lloyd says they have seen a continued need for their services, as last year alone they helped over 3,000 different patients from the area as well as the entire Panhandle along with New Mexico, and Oklahoma.

“We clearly found a niche. There was clearly a lot of people who were desperate for access to health care and I think we really are getting to see their health transform because we are focusing on whole person care,” said Keiser

He adds this whole program has taken a village and it would not be possible without the Panhandle community’s support. The construction portion will begin next week, and they expect the center to open next June.

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