United Neighborhood Health Services has received a $1.72 million federal grant to renovate its Main Street Clinic, Madison Clinic and Cayce Clinic and to establish a diabetes care center. 

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is funding the grant. 

In a release, UNHS Chief Executive Officer Mary Bufwack said she learned about the grant on Tuesday, May 1, when Acacia Salatti, deputy director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Center for Faith-Based & Community Partnerships, visited Nashville.

Bufwack (pictured here) said that about $1.2 million of the grant is designated to renovate UNHS’s Main Street Clinic, located in East Nashville at 905 Main Street. The funds will allow UNHS to create a multi-service diabetes center, with new space for dental services, a wellness center, an education center and a pharmacy. The funds will also allow for some renovation to the two-story clinic, parking lot improvements and furnishings for the first floor.

“The enormous human and social cost of obesity and diabetes requires an aggressive response,” Bufwack said. “We will now be better able to meet the health care needs of underserved and uninsured people in our community.”

The additional $500,000 in grant money is designated for renovations at the Madison Clinic (601 Due West Blvd. in Madison) and the Cayce Clinic (617 S. Eighth St. in East Nashville).

Last year, UNHS served more than 32,000 people, with approximately half of the individuals served having no insurance.