august 2015Social Innovation for a Healthy South Texas Project Subgrantee Spotlight

Sí Texas

Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. (MHM) is a private, faith-based, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing medical, dental and health-related human services to low-income families and the uninsured in South Texas. These services include primary care medical and dental clinics, support services like counseling, case management and social services, family wellness and parenting programs and church-based community nursing programs.

MHM’s mission also includes its one-half ownership of the Methodist Healthcare System – the largest health care system in South Texas. This creates a unique avenue to ensure that the Methodist Healthcare System continues to be a benefit to the community by providing quality care to all and charitable care when needed, and it provides revenue to MHM for its programs. Since inception, MHM has provided more than $600 million in health care services through its clinics and programs, as well as through community grants, and has the unique distinction of being the largest private funding source for community health care to low-income families and the uninsured in South Texas.

Sí Texas Project

Methodist Healthcare Ministries’ Sí Texas: Social Innovation for a Healthy South Texas is designed to stimulate improvements in behavioral health and chronic disease in South Texas, and to highlight integrated behavioral health models that are effectively improving health outcomes in communities with high rates of poverty, depression, diabetes, obesity and associated risk factors. The Sí Texas Project is carried out in 12 counties that span the U.S.-Mexico border to include: Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, Willacy, Kenedy, Brooks, Jim Hogg, Zapata, Duval, Jim Wells, Kleberg and Webb counties, and involves grants made available to local agencies through an open, competitive application process. The Si Texas Project is the result of a $10

million investment from the Social Innovation Fund, a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service and leverages both public and private partnerships to attract additional investments in South Texas.

The overarching goal of Methodist Healthcare Ministries’ Sí Texas Project is to improve rates of depression and diabetes over five years and build the capacity of organizations working in this arena. Using a Collective Impact framework, the Sí Texas Project will build an intricate network of cross-sector partnerships that will lead region-wide improvements in behavioral health and chronic disease.

EL MILAGRO CLINIC

Founded in 1976, El Milagro Clinic provides a medical safety net for the low-income population in McAllen and surrounding areas in the lower Rio Grande Valley including Hidalgo County. The clinic mainly serves uninsured Hispanic, low-wage workers and their families. Funds received from the Sí Texas Project will integrate behavioral health services more fully into primary care, including community health workers and an evidence-based diabetes prevention program.

HOPE FAMILY HEALTH CENTER

Hope Family Health Center provides quality integrated medical, counseling, and case management services to the poor, indigent and uninsured in Starr, Hidalgo, Willacy and Cameron counties. All services are provided at no cost by volunteer medical professionals. Funds received from the Sí Texas Project will help integrate behavioral health services following the collaborative care model with adaptations for bilingual and Spanish-speaking participants.

www.hopefamilyhealthcenter.org

subgrantee spotlights

“Serving Humanity to Honor God“...

by improving the physical, mental and spiritual health of

those least served...

MERCY MINISTRIES OF LAREDO

Mercy Ministries of Laredo, or Mercy Clinic, is a primary health care clinic located in Webb County. Mercy Clinic provides health care and health education to some of the poorest neighborhoods and colonias in the U.S.; nearly all clinic patients are uninsured and fall below the 200 percent federal poverty guidelines. Funds received from the Sí Texas Project will enhance current integrated services, utilize tele-psychiatry and incorporate a spiritual wellness component.

www.mercy.net

R.E.A.L. INC.

R.E.A.L. Inc. (Rural Economic Assistance League) has more than 42 years of experience in the Coastal Bend providing housing, adult day care centers, home health care and public transportation, including rural demand response services in Aransas, Bee, Brooks, Duval, Jim Wells, Live Oak, Refugio and San Patricio counties. Funds received from the Sí Texas Project will help increase the effectiveness of existing integrated behavioral health services through transportation assistance and enhanced programming at four existing sites.

www.realinc.org

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subgrantee spotlights (continued)

TEXAS A&M INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

The mission of Texas A&M International University’s Canseco School of Nursing is to prepare professional nurses to improve the well-being of complex and diverse populations. Funds received from the Sí Texas Project will help develop the first fully coordinated continuum of care for obesity, diabetes and depression in Webb, Zapata and Jim Hogg counties and increasing behavioral health integration in prevention, health care delivery and treatment compliance.

www.tamiu.edu

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER AT SAN ANTONIO

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio’s (UTHSCSA) presence in the Rio Grande Valley was formally established in 2002 with the inauguration of the Regional Academic Health Center. The associated Family Medicine Residencies prepare physicians to serve underserved communities with team-based interprofessional and integrated care. Funds received from the Sí Texas Project will help implement the nationally recognized Primary Care Behavioral Health model in two of the residencies’ primary care locations in Hidalgo County.

www.uthscsa.edu

In the Rio Texas Conference area

of The United Methodist Church.

TROPICAL TEXAS BEHAVIORAL HEALTH

Tropical Texas Behavioral Health, one of the first Local Mental Health Authorities in Texas, makes an extensive array of behavioral health services accessible to low-income and uninsured residents of the lower Rio Grande Valley diagnosed with severe and persistent mental illness, co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders, and/or intellectual and developmental disabilities. Funds received from the Sí Texas Project will reverse co-location of integrated primary care in a community-based outpatient behavioral health setting.

http://www.ttbh.org

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER AT HOUSTON

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health and its 11 partner organizations will enhance a chronic care management program called Salud y Vida. Salud y Vida serves uninsured and low-income Rio Grande Valley residents who have uncontrolled type 2 diabetes. Funds received from the Sí Texas Project will enhance primary and behavioral health services and extend community-based lifestyle programs through an integrated care model.

http://sph.uth.edu/

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NUESTRA CLINICA DEL VALLE

Nuestra Clinica Del Valle (NCDV) provides quality health care services to residents of the Rio Grande Valley. NCDV serves Hidalgo and Starr counties with 11 locations, including two school-based clinics to treat and care for children. NCDV offers comprehensive medical services including family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetricsand gynecology, laboratory, radiology, nutrition, behavioral health and dental. Funds received from the Sí Texas Project will expand integrated primary care and support community-based programs designed to treat depression, diabetes and obesity.

http://nuestraclinicadelvalle.org/

The Social Innovation Fund (SIF), a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), combines public and private resources to grow the impact of innovative, community-based solutions that have compelling evidence of improving the lives of people in low-income communities throughout the United States. The SIF invests in three priority areas: economic opportunity, healthy futures and youth development.

The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages more than 5 million Americans in service and champions community solutions through its AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, Social Innovation Fund and Volunteer Generation Fund programs, and leads the president’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information, visit NationalService.gov.

SOCIAL INNOVATION FUND CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE

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4507 MEDICAL DRIVE, SAN ANTONIO TX 78229

(210) 692.0234 (800) 959.6673 mhm.org