Tulane’s Living Well Clinic opens second location in University Square

A popular downtown clinic that helps Tulane employees achieve better health is expanding to Uptown New Orleans.

The Living Well Clinic opened in mid-August in the University Square complex between Broadway Street and the Mississippi River. It is a sister clinic to the original downtown clinic, which was established in the Tulane University School of Medicine Hutchinson building on Tulane Avenue in 2017.

The mission of the clinic is to help Tulane employees lead healthier lifestyles through weight management, smoking cessation, exercise, stress reduction and other forms of health coaching.

“The downtown Living Well Clinic has been a great success by providing convenient and quality healthcare services, specifically tailored to the needs of our workforce.”

Shantay Bolton, PhD, MBA

The health coaching services, which are provided to Tulane employees at no cost, are designed for a “patient-centered, tailored approach,” according to Living Well. The clinic is a benefit of the Office of Human Resources and Institutional Equity.

“The downtown Living Well Clinic has been a great success by providing convenient and quality healthcare services, specifically tailored to the needs of our workforce,” said Vice President and Deputy Chief Operating Officer Shantay Bolton, PhD, MBA. “By opening an additional location, we can further expand access to resources to promote healthier lifestyles and overall well-being of our employees. This demonstrates the university’s commitment to the health of our community and provides a holistic approach to a healthier workplace.”

Feedback from the downtown clinic prompted Human Resources to consider another location, as well as a need for the same services near the Uptown campus, said Jenine Dabon, FNP-C, Living Well’s nurse practitioner. The downtown clinic, which is open to all Tulane employees, offers the same services and validated parking, but employees also liked the idea of an uptown location.

Cynthia Hayes, who works in the School of Medicine’s Office of Advancement and Alumni Relations, said health coaching at the Living Well Clinic was beneficial.

“Health coaching includes visits with a nurse practitioner, nutritional guidelines and health education.  In addition, you have the option of visiting with a registered dietician, who will create a personalized nutrition plan for you,” she said. “I met my goal of losing 40 pounds and look and feel great.  I have also been successful in keeping it off throughout COVID-19, which could have easily gone the other way.”

The Uptown location was designed during the COVID-19 pandemic, so the space reflects current needs for physical distancing and other measures of virus prevention, as well as confidentiality.

“We have four exam rooms and an in-house lab. We have a counseling room for mental health and dietary counseling,” said Joseph Esneault, executive director of clinical services for Tulane University Medical Group. “Our providers now have private offices to conduct telemedicine visits. We also have a conference area with a large screen TV where we can offer group counseling sessions,” when it becomes safe to do so.

While weight management is always a popular topic for health coaching, “I did in the beginning identify that mental health counseling was really needed. So we added a social worker [on the staff], and that made a dramatic difference in employee outcomes, especially now that we're in the midst of COVID and hurricane season,” Dabon said.

In September, two physicians will also join the staff for primary care such as allergies, minor injuries, flu shots and various symptoms. Employee co-pays apply to these visits. Visits with a nurse practitioner are provided to employees at no cost, however.

The new Living Well Clinic is separate from the Tulane Multispecialty Clinic, which is also housed in University Square. The Multispecialty Clinic does not offer health coaching or share staff with the Living Well Clinic.

The uptown Living Well clinic is located in Suite 108 at University Square and is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The clinic cannot accept walk-in patients, but it’s convenient to make an appointment for health coaching or medical care by calling (504) 988-8935 or emailing wellnessclinic@tulane.edu. For more information, visit tulanelivingwell.com.