 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Community Health Check
The Dallas County Medical Society has a long and rich history of community health initiatives. As we continue these traditions, it’s our desire to provide all DCMS members with meaningful opportunities to use their medical skills to touch the lives of people in our community, while at the same time improve their health outcomes.
Below is a list of several of our DCMS community health initiatives. As we continue to develop and expand our community programs, we hope you’ll join us as we strive to make a difference in the health of our community. For more information, contact Connie Webster, DCMS director of community health, at connie@dallas-cms.org or 214-413-1426.
Project Access Dallas
The story of Project Access Dallas is the story of ordinary people giving and receiving mercy and justice. In the tradition of our heritage of faith, people who might have been left out now receive valuable healthcare services through the generosity of hundreds of volunteers. Project Access Dallas is about the life-stories of hundreds of people who have received care from our volunteers. At a time when cynicism in the healthcare community is at an all-time high because of physician discontent with managed care and Medicaid, plus the challenges of caring for the uninsured, Project Access Dallas is grateful for the physicians who are working toward a solution to a nationwide problem in caring for the uninsured.
In September 2001, the Dallas County Medical Society and several community partners created a Project Access Dallas to assist Dallas County residents who struggle daily with the challenges of poverty and cannot afford medical insurance. The program is a network of volunteer physicians, partnering hospitals, local charity medical clinics, and ancillary partners who volunteer to see working poor patients whose income doesn't exceed 200% of the federal poverty level, are without medical insurance, and are not on Medicaid, Medicare, or Parkland HealthPlus. Volunteers in the program they determine their level of participation by agreeing to see a set number of patients per year for free.
Because of the generous donated services of our partners, a patient is enrolled in Project Access Dallas is assigned a primary care physician from the volunteer network; receives $750 a year in pharmacy benefits; and has access to free specialty care, labs, ancillary procedures, care coordination, and inpatient hospital care.
The heart of our program is compassionate care for our community's uninsured. Words of gratitude are heard frequently as citizens, neighbors, and volunteers around Dallas realize new hope through opportunities for giving and receiving health care with dignity. With the help of our partners, Project Access Dallas is in its sixth year of operation. Since the program began, our network of volunteers has grown steadily. It now has more than 700 physician volunteers, 15 area hospitals, nine charity medical clinics serving as enrollment sites, ten ancillary support organizations, one national laboratory service organization, and 40,000 nationwide pharmacies. Our volunteers and donors deserve the most praise. Without our partners, the lives of many patients would be very different.
We are pleased to share the following accomplishments from 2006:• PAD partners donated more than $2.2 million of care.
• More than 13,817 prescriptions were filled.
• PAD paid more than $232,139 for prescriptions for PAD patients.
• The average donated care provided per patient was $1,783.
• 1,274 unduplicated patients received care.Greater Dallas/Fort Worth Association of Charitable Clinics
In 2000, the DCMS Community Service Committee created a networking group of charity medical clinics to provide DCMS members the opportunity to volunteer in the clinics and to enable DCMS to serve as a resource for the clinics. The group has become more than just a networking group - it has enabled DCMS to better understand the challenges of caring for the uninsured and to work toward a solution to a nationwide problem. With the help of DCMS, group members have pooled their strength and resources, and have become one voice for the low-income uninsured population. The group uses its convening power to represent clinic patients and volunteer physicians on legislative issues. DCMS is proud to have been part of this group from its inception and to have helped in its development. Through partnerships such as these, DCMS physicians make a difference in the lives of so many patients and strengthen this vital link to the community.
Immunize Kids! Dallas Area Partnership
To help improve the Dallas childhood immunization rate, DCMS and numerous other healthcare and community service organizations work through Immunize Kids! Dallas Area Partnership. Since its inception more than a decade ago, childhood immunization rates in Dallas County have risen from 34% to 74%, but this still means that one out of four children is not protected. IK educates parents, the community, and medical professionals about the importance of immunizations through outreach events, brochures, and seminars for professionals.
North Texas Adult Immunization Coalition
DCMS has been part of this coalition since its formation in 1999. Its focus is on immunizing adults against influenza and pneumococcal pneumonia. Thousands of adults come out for its annual North Texas Shoot-out to be immunized against flu and pneumonia. The Shoot-out is publicized to residents in Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, and Denton counties, and people can be vaccinated under the banners of their home county to see which county vaccinates the most residents.
Conference of Professions
For more than 20 years, Dallas County physicians, attorneys, and ministers have conducted the annual Conference of Professions, a unique program that brings together the three professions at Southern Methodist University to discuss an issue of community importance. The event is hosted by the Dallas Academy of Medicine, the Perkins School of Theology, SMU Law School, the Dallas Bar Association, and UT Southwestern Medical School. The event helps strengthen relationships among the professions that deal with issues including domestic violence, poverty, and end-of-life care.
Southwest Transplant Foundation
The Southwest Transplant Foundation is committed to helping Metroplex organ transplant patients. The Dallas Academy of Medicine has supported the foundation from its beginning in 1993, when DCMS Past President Phil H. Berry Jr, MD, and George Crutcher, both liver transplant recipients, started the foundation to defray expenses for local transplant recipients. STF provides funds for necessities such as medicine, rent, phone bills, and transportation.
Domestic Violence Awareness
Since beginning its Domestic Violence Awareness program in 1992, DCMS has filled requests for hundreds of thousands of resource cards to social service agencies, healthcare offices, law enforcement agencies, hospitals, women’s shelters, and nursing homes. The cards list the signs and symptoms of abuse, plus legal protection available and phone numbers of shelters and pertinent law enforcement agencies.
Hard Hats for Little Heads
Hard Hats for Little Heads educates children and their families about how wearing a helmet can help prevent a life-altering or fatal brain injury if an accident occurs while bicycling, roller skating, skateboarding, or riding a scooter. Through community events, we provide free helmets to children, along with information about bicycle safety.
Home | Who
We Are | Membership | DCMS
In Action | Communications
| Community Service
Products & Services
| Business of Medicine | Legislative
Issues | Physician
Finder | DMJ On-Line
 |
Copyright © 1997, Dallas County
Medical Society. Information contained in this site does not constitute
legal or medical advice. |
