The involvement of the Dallas County Medical Society in public health issues in this community began 117 years ago in 1876. Then, as well as now, the physicians of the county were actively involved. They committed their professional resources to assure that the citizens of Dallas county received the best medical care available. Today, Dallas County Medical Society's 6000 members comprises approximately 80% of the physicians in the county. Dallas has the fourth largest county medical society in the nation; it is larger than many state societies.

• DCMS created the Board of Health in 1999, with physician members and consultants available to give municipal and county agencies access to an organized, authoritative medical response to public heath problems in Dallas County.
• DCMS and its spouses' Alliance (DCMSA) cosponsor Community Health Check
  each February, where exhibitors provide free health screenings and
  information to Dallas residents.
• Dallas' Emergency Medical System was established in the early 1970s with the help of the medical society.
• In the 1960s, 450 physicians (more than 35% of the DCMS membership) volunteered at 90 immunization sites for the Polio Campaign, vaccinating every student in the Dallas Independent School District.
• In 1972, DCMS cosponsored a countywide rubella immunization program. More than 250 physicians volunteered and immunized 140,000 children.
• The Science Place at Fair Park originated with the help and underwriting of DCMS and many individual physicians in the medical community.
• In 1992, the medical society was involved in the area-wide trauma plan and provided measles immunizations.

DCMS plays an integral role in public health countywide initiatives.

Through its involvement in the Immunize Kids! Dallas Area Partnership, DCMS supports outreach efforts that have immunized thousands of children and adults against vaccine-preventable illnesses. Largely through the Coalition's work, the immunization rate in Dallas County has risen from 34 percent in 1994 to 77 percent in 1999.

DCMS continues to provide domestic violence information cards to physicians, hospitals, social workers, and agencies. DCMS and the Dallas County Medical Society Alliance initiated the public awareness campaign in 1993 and we continue to fill requests for the wallet-size cards, printed in English and Spanish, which offer sources of help available in our community.

Through its membership on the Advisory Board of the School of Health Professions at Townview Magnet Center, in Dallas, DCMS works closely with the school principal and teachers to ensure the school's curriculum meets students' needs upon graduation.