PFHOF Sponsor CENTENE Stepping Up in Ferguson, Missouri

The Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Centene Foundation created a new three-year partnership this year dedicated to improving and changing lives.

To date, there have been four Strong Youth Strong Communities clinics with Gold Jackets Aeneas Williams, Anthony Munoz and Darrell Green in Canton, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas and Austin and coming in July 26-28, in association with the National Urban League’s National Meeting, a clinic in nearby Ferguson, Missouri.

Three years ago Ferguson was torn apart with violence after a police shooting and killing. Gold Jacket Aeneas Williams, a minister for the Spirit Church in St. Louis, was called in to help start the healing and his ministry has been active in Ferguson since.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is pitching a reality television show using Gold Jackets as Ambassadors. Centene just added a new facility, their second one in Ferguson.

Centene Corp. is investing $1.3 million to open an urgent and primary care health facility inside a Schnucks grocery in Ferguson in November.

The Clayton-based managed care company said it was partnering with the Betty Jean Kerr People’s Health Centers to open the facility, which will provide immunizations, dental services and other health-care services for adults and children over the age of 3.

People’s, which operates four health clinics in the area, focuses on providing care to the poor and uninsured, and allows eligible individuals to pay on a sliding scale.

Centene CEO Michael Neidorff said it was paying to build out the center in a space donated by Schnuck Markets. Centene estimates the facility will provide services to more than 8,000 people annually. People’s will run the daily operations of the center.

This is Centene’s second large investment in Ferguson after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer in 2014.

Last year, the company opened a $25 million service center with more than 200 employees. At a grand opening for that facility, Neidorff said he wanted to help rebuild Ferguson after hearing that some small business owners were considering not reopening after businesses were destroyed and damaged in unrest after Brown’s death.

“What happened in Ferguson could happen in 150 cities in this country,” Neidorff told the Post-Dispatch on Wednesday. “I decided two years ago that it would be very important in St. Louis to take leadership and show it’s not what happened, it’s what you do about it.”

Schnuck Markets, which operates 100 groceries in several states, relocated its store in nearby Cool Valley to a site formerly occupied by Shop ’n Save in Ferguson this year.

Schnuck used to house clinics inside its groceries but hasn’t had any in the last few years, said Paul Simon, spokesman for the grocery chain. Schnuck does operate 95 in-store retail pharmacies and seven specialty pharmacies.

Earlier this year, Schnuck closed its free-standing clinic that administered intravenous drugs to patients to treat cancer or conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.

“We welcome the People’s Health Clinic to the new Schnucks Ferguson and thank them and Centene for their commitment to the residents of the North St. Louis County area,” Schnuck Markets’ chairman and CEO Todd Schnuck said in a statement. “Partnering in this clinic is an example of our commitment to nourish people’s lives by focusing on health and wellness programs in the communities we serve.”

Schnuck, People’s Health and Centene “are committed to serving the population of Ferguson and continuing with the incredible revitalization of the area,” Neidorff said in a statement Wednesday announcing the Ferguson health clinic.