About Us

Smoketown Family Wellness Center (SFWC) is an integrated healthcare model to support parents to raise children to be healthy in mind, body, and spirit. The Center provides medical care for children and healthy lifestyle support for the whole family in a community-based setting.

Like many cities, there’s a 15-year gap in life expectancy based on the neighborhood where you live. This difference is complicated and could be due to many factors including access to clinical care, access to healthy foods and the ability to exercise as well as opportunities for children to succeed in school and find top quality jobs.

SFWC offers a new approach to healthcare delivery that focuses on the primary prevention of diseases that are rooted in childhood.

Our Founder

Charlotte Gay Stites

Charlotte Gay Stites, MD is a board-certified general pediatrician with 15 years of clinical experience in Louisville, having had the privilege of working at Kaplan Barron Roth Lehocky, PSC and East Louisville Pediatrics, PSC. She enjoys working with families to improve their health and find balance in their lives.

She received a BA in English from the University of Virginia; her MD from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and completed her residency training in Pediatrics at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, OR. She is the founder of the Smoketown Family Wellness Center, an innovative nonprofit startup that will combine medical care for children with healthy lifestyle support for the entire family, partnering with families to raise children to be healthy in mind, body, and spirit. This model will focus on the primary prevention of chronic diseases that begin in childhood with exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences and lifestyle habits that are formed in childhood. She is married to John Clay Stites and is the proud mother of 3 children.

Our Staff

AMANDA TURNER

Practice Manager

TERRI RENFROW

APRN

ALEXIS SAUNDERS

Community Health Worker

REGINA MILLS

Medical Assistant

Ronique' Alexander

Front Desk

Our Board

MICHAEL ANDERSON

Board Treasurer, President and CEO, Anderson Business Group, Inc.

JEFF BRINGARDNER

Retired

DR. TISH E. BROOKINS ED.D., MSSW

Board Chair, Certified School Social Worker, Jefferson County Public Schools

RACHAEL CHAPMAN

ANN CURTIS

Executive Committee, Community Volunteer

KAREN HANDMAKER

Executive Committee, Retired

DR. TA-NEKA C. LINDSAY, DNP, APRN

Nurse Practitioner (Women’s Health/Adult Gero Primary Care) and Assistant Professor of Nursing at Bellarmine University

JOHANNA L WHEATLEY

VP, Treasury Management Officer at Republic Bank

ELLEN SLOAN

Owner, Serving from the Kitchen; Local Activist

BRITTANY LICHVAR

MS-HROD, Workforce Development Program Manager, Human Resources, UofL Health

MARILYN MARSHALL

Retired Teacher, Jefferson County Public Schools

SHARONDA O'BANNON

Behavior Coach, Jefferson County Public Schools

ISHWANZYA D. RIVERS, PH.D

Manager, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Human Resources, Nucleus, University of Louisville

JILL JELSMA

Community Volunteer

Why We Exist

In 2016, the US spent $3.3 trillion on healthcare, up to 85% of that amount was spent on the management of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and stroke.
Kentucky is ranked 7th nationally with 35% obesity rate, and according to WalletHub, Louisville is the 10th fattest city in the nation. A child insured under Medicaid costs nearly $2500/year. An obese child costs over $6700.
Historically, health has been defined as clinical care. More recent understanding emphasizes the importance of lifestyle behaviors, socioeconomic status, and environmental factors.
SFWC is reaching beyond clinical services to fully assess every child’s needs, to deliver customized education and healthcare as a means to prevent chronic disease over the lifetime.