Two large gifts totaling $12 million have pushed the effort to build and open Reno’s Jerry Smith Community Wellness Center over the top. Operated by Northern Nevada HOPES, the center will bring adult primary care, mental health care, substance abuse care and case management to thousands who need it.
The $36 million capital campaign to build the center from scratch included an unsolicited $6 million gift from national donor MacKenzie Scott and a $5.9 gift from the William N. Pennington Foundation. Funding from other philanthropists, the community and the federal American Rescue Plan Act also contribute to the center’s opening, planned for May 6.
At about 43,000 square feet, the Smith wellness center is on East Fourth Street near the Nevada Cares Campus, a Washoe County facility that provides services to the homeless.
Trudy Larson, vice president of the Northern Nevada HOPES board of directors, called the area a “medical health desert,” which means that health and wellness resources haven’t traditionally been available, especially for a vulnerable population.“It’s a well-known area for folks who may be having problems in their lives, complicated lives, unhoused, a lot of social issues that we see in people who may live in that area or wander through that area,” Larson said. “This is access right where they live, and same-day appointments make it possible for them to walk right in and receive care when they really need it.”
Larson also noted that the Smith center is ready to sign up patients for Medicaid services.
“Through our social services and team approach, we can make sure that we sign up people and really allow access to funds that support their health,” she said.
The Smith center also greatly expands HOPES’ services for mental health care, said Sharon Chamberlain, CEO of the organization. This includes an outpatient program now expanded to three-to-five times a week for patients who need behavioral health care and social skill services.“In addition to that, we have private individual therapists for people, as well as substance abuse treatment programs, which we know is really key and really lacking in our community,” Chamberlain said. “To be able to serve these people in a very holistic manner, in addition to our primary care programs, is really what this clinic is all about.”
Between 12,000 and 14,000 people are expected to receive care at the Jerry Smith wellness center every year. Chamberlain said that it will be ideal for people who have instead been using local ERs or urgent cares outside of that area.
“This allows them to have a medical home right there in their backyard,” Chamberlain said. “I think it is going to make a significant impact.”
Northern Nevada HOPES will still be operating its clinic on Fifth Street, which currently has waiting lists and also has dedicated pediatric care. It will close its temporary Bell Street clinic, although its services have been moved to the new, larger wellness center.
The Fourth Street facility is named for the late Jerry Smith, a Reno philanthropist who died in March 2023 and was an avid supporter of HOPES’ work.
“Jerry was an incredible friend,” Chamberlain said. “He was a strong believer in having agencies and people connect in order to support the populations we serve, to work much less siloed. I’ve never met anyone like him, and we miss him dearly, so we wanted to be able to continue his legacy.”
Up next for Northern Nevada HOPES is an $800,000 fundraising campaign for the first year of operations and services at the Smith wellness center.
“We also want to put the word out that we are hiring,” Chamberlain added. “We’ve got a lot of jobs in the community that are available, everything from front desk folks to security to medical assistants and other providers.
“If there are people that are compassionate and interested in our mission, and want to treat people with kindness and dignity, we’d love to talk to them.”
More information on Northern Nevada HOPES can be found at their website.
Nevada Highway Patrol is investigating a fatal rollover crash on U.S. 95 Alternate near Lyon County mile marker three between Yerington and Schurz.
The crash happened just after 12 p.m. Friday.
U.S. 95-A is reduced to one lane near mile marker four and traffic is being piloted.
The roadway is expected to remain this way for the next two to three hours.
Details about the crash have not been released. We’ll update this story when we learn more.
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There’s a debate over on Reddit right now about how dogs should be kept on leashes around town, on trails, or anywhere in public that’s not a dog park.
I should clarify: When I say “debate,” I mean that several users have created posts about how dogs should be kept on leashes, and almost every response is 100% in agreement.
Go ahead and look at the posts; nobody’s putting together a spirited defense of letting their pets run around licking strangers and pooping on nature. With that kind of general consensus, I’d want to say that leashing our dogs is one of Reno-Sparks’ “unwritten rules.”
Except for two things: One, this rule is very much written (see Chapter 95.220 of the Washoe County Code: “Owners must have animals leashed no more than 6 feet in length and under immediate control at all times.”)
And also: The phrase “unwritten rules” implies that everyone goes along with it without even thinking. But we’ve all interacted with dog owners on local trails, letting their giant furballs knock over toddlers or chase goslings through the wetlands.
“Aw, he’s just a big puppy!” they’ll say, followed up with a halfhearted, “Down, Barnaby.”
Clearly, leashing dogs is not an unwritten rule because it’s constantly being broken. A true unwritten rule for hiking trails would be something that rarely ever gets broken, like “wear pants at all times.” Really, the leash thing is more like a wish list for society, alongside such things as:
But let’s move on. I’ve been wracking my brain to think of actual “unwritten rules” for Northern Nevada that outsiders might not grasp right away, and I didn’t come up with many. But here goes:
It’s not rude to keep your favorite spots a secret, even from friends and family: Got a favorite local park or Lake Tahoe beach? You’re not even required to tell your own mother about it, because word will get out and everything will be ruined. We value our personal space, and the community is too small to keep anything under wraps.
Side note: You can’t do this with businesses, because you need your burrito spot to stay crowded and busy. If nobody goes to your secret hot springs, it’s not going to suddenly go out of business and turn into a vape shop.
On Tahoe beaches, you can claim one beach towel’s worth of space per person, and that’s it: If word gets out about your favorite beach, you’ll have to start your day battling for a parking spot (bonus unwritten rule: You can’t reserve a parking spot by standing in it.)
The slightly less annoying ― but still difficult ― territory battle will be on the beach itself. Everyone but you will have a pop-up tent, several coolers and some sort of sound system. But societal convention dictates that any group can only claim the square footage of one beach towel per person, and leave ample space to walk between their beach site and the next one over.
Twenty minutes is a long drive in Reno-Sparks, but four hours is completely reasonable if you’re heading out of town: Recent transplants from more urban places like the Bay Area or Las Vegas will drive for 45 minutes to get to the one Target they like best. Around here, that sounds like hell.
On the other hand, driving for several hours to go see ichthyosaur skeletons or attend a Basque festival or go to a Giants game is completely reasonable. I can’t explain why this is. It might have something to do with hatred of stoplights.
Settle in a bit before complaining about outsiders: Yes, we know you just got here, and you want to prove your worthiness by complaining about Californians or Southern Nevadans, because that’s our local sport.
On average, we’re not nearly as closed off as people say; only about one-quarter of Nevadans were actually born here, so most of us know what it’s like to be the new kid. But at least wait until you’ve unloaded the last box from your U-Haul before you start griping about how new arrivals are pricing everyone out.
You, on the other hand ― you, the person reading this article right now! ― know a lot more unwritten rules for Northern Nevada. Either that, or you have ideas on what should be unwritten rules. Send them my way at bmcginness@rgj.com, and we’ll debate all of them next week.
What lost places in Reno-Sparks should we bring back? That’s the question I posed last week; here’s what you said:
Let’s start with department store ShopKo, which had the highly underrated slogan, “Say hello to a good buy.” We had three ― on South Virginia, Mae Anne and Oddie Boulevard. Lauri Ferguson wrote in to compliment the selection, and noted “their products lasted too.” Sadly, the entire chain disappeared nearly a decade ago, so bringing them back might be the heaviest lift ever.
“Bring back Famous Murphy’s,” wrote E. Pollard. “Can’t believe it ever closed and was then bulldozed and has been an empty dirt lot for more than 25 years.”
For the record, it’s actually been 18 years since it closed and 11 years since it was bulldozed, but the point stands.
“The purpose of the demolition is to make way for a new development being planned at this site,” developers told the RGJ in 2015. Anyway, it’s still an empty lot.
And finally, I had lamented over the lost Century Theaters dome on South Virginia, but Kurt Kinder mentioned one even more venerable, but equally lost: the Granada Theater, which originally opened in 1916, burned down in 1953 and reopened in 1954. It was torn down in 1997 and is now the site of the Palladio.
Brett McGinness is the engagement editor for the Reno Gazette Journal. He’s also the writer of The Reno Memo — a free newsletter about news in the Biggest Little City.
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