July 29, 2021
In the 1980s, Parkland Health & Hospital System’s then CEO Ron J. Anderson, MD had a dream of bringing healthcare to underserved communities in Dallas County. His vision of healthcare for all, regardless of ability to pay, paved the way for Parkland’s Community Oriented Primary Care (COPC), a network of neighborhood-based health centers that provide a “medical home” to primarily low-income communities.
At the time Dr. Anderson had to convince skeptical hospital board members and local officials that providing clinics in Dallas’ economically-challenged neighborhoods was the right thing to do. His vision came to fruition in 1986 when the Dallas County Commissioners Court approved a request to go forward with the COPC concept. The first COPC, East Dallas Health Center, opened in 1989 and two years later the first clinic built from the ground up, Bluitt-Flowers Health Center, 303 E. Overton Road, Dallas 75216, opened.This year, the staff at Bluitt-Flowers Health Center is celebrating 30 years of providing primary and preventive healthcare to residents in southern Dallas County. Built at a cost of $4.5 million, today the clinic employs nearly 110 workers who provide services ranging from physicals, preventive care check-ups, sick visits, to chronic disease management and acute care to more than 40,000 people each year. “Community is key to the success of the COPC program. Over the years we’ve built the program by working with community leaders and residents in what were traditionally underserved communities,” said Herron Mitchell, Director of Practice Operations – South Region in Parkland’s Population Health Division. “Providing healthcare in areas where people live not only makes sense, it’s the right thing to do.”
For the past 28 years, Edith Hawkins-Frost has provided medical care to patients at Bluitt-Flowers. As a physician assistant, she has forged relationships with her patients, many of whom have been going to the health center since it first opened.“It’s very rewarding knowing that we’re making a difference in our patients’ lives,” she said. “It can be very enlightening, at times challenging, but there’s always an opportunity to provide education.”The nearly three decades Hawkins-Frost has treated patients at the health center has also provided the opportunity to care for multiple generations of families. “I am seeing patients who are now in their 90’s – my oldest patient is 94 – and I’m seeing their children, too,” she said.And for some she’s become a caring shoulder to lean on as well as a confidant of sorts. “I’ve been able to celebrate the good times with my patients. There have been happy times like graduations, weddings, births, and there have been sad times like illnesses and deaths,” she said. “It’s been a joy to be a part of this health center and this community.”Teresa Haven, a medical practice assistant, echoes that sentiment. Haven, who has worked for Parkland for 34 years – the last 23 at Bluitt-Flowers, said, “The best part about being here is knowing that at the end of the day we’ve made a difference in the lives of our patients.”