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Leah Carter, UT Southwestern Medical Center

Carter is addressing childhood and adolescent health in West Dallas by expanding summer camp programming to include nutrition and exercise education as well as academic and leadership training.  Outside of summer camps, her project will address the need for additional women’s health education for all ages at the Brother Bill’s Helping Hand community center.  Overall, the project is aiming to engage and encourage the community in West Dallas to become more informed about their health and more involved in community activities that support their health, and to determine additional resources needed to improve health outcomes for West Dallas residents.

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Isabel Garcia, UT Southwestern Medical Center

Garcia is addressing access to healthcare in the Dallas community by implementing workshops and bringing together resources to educate the undocumented, uninsured population on access to health care in their local community. The program will focus on providing health literacy and education to immigrants in order to build trust and confidence in the community. Ultimately this program will serve as preventative health care and aims to decrease the amount of emergency room visits by undocumented/uninsured immigrants. By educating the community on their rights within the healthcare system, this project will empower and bring confidence to the community as well as increase their trust and feeling of safety in health care.

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Eric Gobel, Texas Christian University

Gobel is addressing postsecondary literacy and preparedness in Fort Worth through presentations and individualized educational plans with local middle and high schoolers. By centering the conversations on goals and aspirations, the program will emphasize the empowering nature of education. Presentations will focus on explaining the costs and opportunities of different higher education options in the Fort Worth area to demystify the process and consequences of seeking a postsecondary degree.

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Morgan Grant, Texas Woman’s University

Grant is addressing HIV/STD prevention in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex by creating a sexual health empowerment and education program for minority and at-risk populations who identify as a member of the LGBTQIA community. The provide will provide participants with a basic and fundamental overview of HIV/AIDS, means of contraction, and ways to keep oneself safe while also protecting the sexual health of others. Additionally, the program will feature an interactive exchange of health information between participants that signifies the importance of safety, routine testing for those who are sexually active, and protection of others while empowering the participants in areas of self-efficacy, decisional balancing, and sustainability of specific sexual lifestyle modifications.

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Esha Hansoti, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Hansoti is addressing the needs of HIV/AIDS and transgender patients in North Texas by establishing a case management and referral program for incoming patients at a nonprofit clinic. Along with helping HIV/AIDS and transgender patients connect with resources in the community based on their needs, the program will provide confidential emotion support, advocacy, and health education. Overall, the program will aid patients in organizing and game planning the next steps of their health driven by their financial, cultural, and geographic accessibility and needs.

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Michael Hernandez, Texas Christian University

Hernandez plans to work with men and women living in the Como neighborhood of Fort Worth to help them gain steady employment. In addition to providing workshops and coaching on topics to help them with the application process and develop strong job skills, Hernandez also plans to provide information about practical tools such as budget management and other financial skills. He also plans to reach out to neighborhood businesses to encourage more hiring of people who live within the community and help create additional job opportunities.

Community Site:

Merin John, UT Southwestern Medical Center

John is addressing smoking-related morbidities among the homeless in Dallas by establishing a smoking cessation program for women living in homeless shelter with their children. In addition to helping the mothers with quit strategies through support groups and individual coaching sessions, the program will seek to educate the population about the harmful effects of second-hand smoke exposure and nicotine addiction.

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Rosalind Ma, UT Southwestern Medical Center

Rosalind Ma is addressing healthcare disparities, specifically in regards to transportation and healthcare navigation, for the male homeless population in Dallas. The project focuses on developing a Linkage to Care program for the ongoing Hepatitis C screening project by creating a patient navigator program where patients are assisted with the transportation and scheduling of their healthcare appointments. Some barriers that will be addressed include lack of funds for transportation, lack of ability to schedule appointments, and difficult navigation to Parkland Hepatology Clinic. In addition to helping patients navigate through the healthcare system, the program will continue hosting Hepatitis C screenings and provide educational information about Hepatitis C. 

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Hasan Seede, UT Southwestern Medical Center

At the Union Gospel Mission Center of Hope, Seede is leading a Toxic-Free Child Program oriented towards homeless mothers whose aim is to minimize unintentional poisonings and other forms of injury to children. Many women at the shelter are pregnant or have young children who are especially vulnerable to toxins such as lead and secondhand smoke. The program seeks to minimize these exposures while also educating on other common forms of childhood injury such as burns and acute poisoning from household cleaning products. Seede is also addressing the high smoking rates among homeless men by identifying eligible patients for lung cancer screening in coordination with a smoking cessation class at Union Gospel Mission’s Calvert Place Shelter. Ultimately the program will help foster direct relationships between the medical community of a premier institution and an at-risk population in need of preventative health intervention. The goal is to identify individuals who may benefit from medical intervention.

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Gabriele Slaughter, UT Southwestern Medical Center

Slaughter is addressing parental stress in the Dallas metroplex by establishing parental education workshops for families coping with behavioral concerns. These workshops will instruct parents on strategies that will help to manage and improve their children’s social, emotional, and behavioral health. In addition to practical solutions, these programs will also feature education on the benefits of sleep hygiene, daily routines, healthy nutrition, and exercise. Ultimately, the programs will aim to shift parents’ attitudes and behaviors towards being more understanding, nurturing, and patient, and empower parents to use constructive solutions to manage familial stress.

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