The sun’s rays have just begun to warm the intersection of Franklin and Bloomington avenues in South Minneapolis, and the University of Minnesota Community-University Health Care Center is already humming with life and activity.

An older Somali man dressed in work clothes warmly greets one of the center’s front desk staff, completing his check-in process without shifting from his native tongue. A security guard holds the door open so a mother can escort her two young children inside as they babble contentedly in Spanish and tug on the fabric of her coat. Next to the medical check-in desk, dental patients use iPads equipped with interpretation technology to check in or schedule future appointments. 

Beyond the doors that pepper the building’s slender lobby, a team of physicians, nurses, dentists, mental health professionals, care coordinators, and pharmacists are working diligently to provide the best care possible for every patient who enters, regardless of their insurance status or financial means. 

Through one of these doors emerges Roli Dwivedi, MD, the clinic’s CEO, to take us on a tour of CUHCC, or “kook” as it’s affectionately referred to by the community. To explain the interconnected mesh of whole-person care that the clinic provides, Dwivedi uses an evocative phrase. 

“I call it a dance of medicine,” says Dwivedi, who is also an associate professor at the U of M Medical School and the Mac Baird Endowed Chair in Advocacy and Community Engagement. “We only learn the science of medicine in medical school, but then we do the dance of medicine here at CUHCC every day.”

Building trust 

As we pass into the clinic’s working areas, CUHCC begins to give the impression of a busy restaurant kitchen—one where every square inch of available space has been utilized, and where staff manage complex tasks at close quarters with well-practiced ease. 

Economy of movement is key in CUHCC’s dance, and has been since its founding in 1966. CUHCC was created by two University of Minnesota pediatricians in response to the needs of a growing population of refugees and immigrants from Southeast Asia in the Phillips neighborhood at the time. 

Originally a pediatric clinic, CUHCC has evolved to meet the needs of its community in the years since its founding, adding a comprehensive suite of medical and dental services and a robust behavioral health line, which itself includes therapy, psychiatry, targeted case management, and rehabilitative services for people of all ages. Other on-site experts include a dietician, holistic health provider, pharmacists, and midwives. 

There are also two full-time interpreters for Somali and Spanish speakers, as well as interpreters for Vietnamese, Hmong, and Laotian patients. Most recently, CUHCC also added interpreters for Dari and Pashto in response to an influx of patients from Afghanistan. 

The clinic provides care to 10,000 people annually through nearly 50,000 patient visits. To Dwivedi, each and every one of these services are key pieces of CUHCC’s mission to address social determinants of health—the vast swath of nonmedical factors that contribute to a person’s overall well-being. These determinants reinforce existing health care disparities for communities of color, and for people who are experiencing economic hardship. 

With 91% of its patient population at or below 200% of federal poverty guidelines, CUHCC is uniquely situated to address these disparities. 

“At CUHCC, we try to be a ‘yes’ in a world of ‘no,’” Dwivedi says. “When people come here, we take care of not only their bodies, but their minds and their souls as well.” 

Training the next generation 

We pass by a warren of tightly clustered patient exam rooms and peek inside their limited confines. Dwivedi says that these rooms, while effective, struggle to provide adequate space for larger families, especially when one or more of CUHCC’s many providers-in-training also happens to be present—a common occurrence. This humble neighborhood clinic is also one of the largest primary care teaching sites in the University of Minnesota’s system, typically hosting between 175 and 200 learners per year. 

Hayley Severson, MD, is one of them. She’s a medicine and pediatrics resident, originally from Wisconsin and now in her third year of residency at CUHCC. The clinic’s community-first ethos is perfectly aligned with Severson’s personal values, and she’s grateful to have the opportunity to learn from preceptors who balance strong medical fundamentals with a focus on advocacy and building community relationships. 

It’s also just a great place to work, she says. “It feels like a family,” Severson says. “One of the interpreters always gives me a hug when I see her. It’s this really great community of collaboration and seeking best outcomes for our patients … and making sure that the whole clinic and community is well taken care of.” 

Good neighbors 

We round another corner and enter an open meeting space about the size of a classroom. During the peak of the pandemic, this space was converted into a makeshift COVID clinic, but now the room is back to its original double-duty role as CUHCC’s boardroom and breakroom. 

Once a month, this is where Ines Lazo and the other dozen or so members of CUHCC’s board of directors meet with clinic leaders. The board’s role is to provide strategy direction and overall governance. Lazo and other patient members ensure that decisions are grounded in patients’ perspectives. 

Lazo has been a patient of Dwivedi’s at CUHCC since she moved to South Minneapolis with her family in 2001. Originally from Ecuador, she didn’t yet know much English and struggled to understand what doctors were telling her when she sought medical care for her young children as an uninsured mother. 

Now, more than 20 years later, Lazo and her family continue to come to CUHCC for their care. She sees her board responsibilities as a natural extension of being a good neighbor. 

“It’s important to me that patients are seen as more than just a number here, that they’re being heard and being seen as individuals and as community members,” Lazo says. “I just try to give back a little of what I have received.” 

‘Hope and healing’ 

Dwivedi is full of stories like Lazo’s. As we move through the clinic’s dense dental exam space, Dwivedi recalls the first reveal of a brilliant grin from a patient who never smiled before CUHCC provided her with her first set of dentures. 

A conversation about listening deeply to patients reminds her about a young man from Ecuador, who first checked in to the clinic complaining of mysterious but severe knee pain. Through an on-site interpreter, Dwivedi learned that the man had walked from Mexico to Minnesota three months earlier because his wife was pregnant and they could only afford a single plane ticket for her. 

Dwivedi set the man up with CUHCC’s pharmacist for pain medication, a social worker to help ease his immigration transition, and mental health resources to help him process the emotional trauma of the journey—all during the same visit, and all under one roof. 

In early 2024, University of Minnesota leaders approved a $45 million renovation and expansion of CUHCC’s existing Phillips site that will double the clinic’s size. Gifts from the Otto Bremer Trust and Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation have provided a galvanizing head start on the University’s $20 million fundraising goal, but additional support is still needed. 

For Dwivedi, an improved facility will mean a chance to welcome even more people into CUHCC’s dance of medicine, and showcase their well-honed moves on a bigger stage. 

“I have this vision for CUHCC and that vision is around equity, because I think my patients deserve the same type of care that I receive, or even better,” she explains. “I want this space to look like hope and healing for them.”