BUILD Advances Rural Healthcare with the Burton-Southern Clinic
Residents in rural communities often travel long distances for routine care, specialty services and mental health support. While virtual options like telehealth services have become a standard of care, limited internet access can create barriers for many families seeking healthcare in rural areas.
BUILD is a student-led nonprofit organization founded at Texas A&M University in 2013, created in reverence to the 12 students who lost their lives in the1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse. BUILD was established as a unifying, hands-on service project allowing students to gain experience while making a significant impact to rural communities. Since the program’s inception, the organization has designed, constructed and deployed more than 60 medical clinics to rural communities around the world.
These Texas Aggie Medical Clinics (TAMC) are constructed from repurposed 40-foot shipping containers, offering a compact solution for bringing in-person and telehealth medical care to communities that lack access to these resources. “We are looking for the hardest-to-reach folks to serve,” said Carly McCord, Founding and Executive Director of the Texas A&M Health Telehealth Institute. “They often don’t have a device or internet access, or they need a safe place for an appointment. Without these BUILD containers, there wasn’t that place.”
BUILD’s latest project was the establishment of the Burton-Southern Clinic in Burton, Texas, through a partnership between Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Burton Bridge Ministry, WellPoint, Washington County EMS, SpawGlass and other partners.
SpawGlass became involved with BUILD after SpawGlass Director of Revenue & Preconstruction Strategy Eric Kennedy connected with Texas A&M College of Medicine Executive Director Curtis Donaldson. Donaldson said he trusted SpawGlass to deliver the level of quality the project required. “It’s not just anybody, it’s SpawGlass. They’re going to come in, and they know what to do,” Donaldson said. “It’s a great partnership.”
Team members from SpawGlass’ Brazos Valley office volunteered their time and expertise to help prepare the site in Burton, assisting with grading, utility coordination, concrete work and infrastructure support. “This was in alignment with SpawGlass’ vision of building flourishing communities,” said Eric Kennedy. “We saw an opportunity to support something that directly improves access to care.”
In addition to providing essential healthcare access to these communities, the BUILD program also offers students an invaluable learning experience. With an organized leadership team and a crew of volunteers, participating students oversee construction of the clinics from early planning through delivery. “This experience has contributed to my learning experience because, really, we built a community,” said BUILD Chief Operating Officer Reagan Johnson. “We’re building the clinics. We’re also building communities.”
Burton Bridge Ministry, a local charity organization instrumental in the development of the Burton-Southern Clinic, has provided a van and staff to assist patients in need of transportation to and from the clinic, where they can receive in-person care from onsite nurse practitioners as well as virtual medical and mental health care from physicians via telehealth services. The clinic sits beside the town’s only EMS station, providing direct access to ambulance services and a nearby CareFlight helipad. “If someone shows up and they’ve got a true medical emergency that can’t be handled by telemedicine, I’ve got an ambulance right next door,” said Washington County Paramedic Supervisor Mark Rosenbaum.
As BUILD continues to expand across Texas, projects like the Burton-Southern Clinic show how collaborative solutions can help close gaps in rural healthcare. SpawGlass is proud to support that mission and grateful for the work BUILD and its partners are doing to strengthen communities across Texas.