Mission

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.

Americans are experiencing an unprecedented crisis in access to healthcare. More than 46 million people are without healthcare coverage today, and each day that number grows. Although our children and the elderly have access to healthcare programs, a large segment of our population between the ages of 18 and 64 do not qualify for Medicaid and cannot afford health insurance. 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. As you read the details that follow, we hope you will translate the numbers into faces that bear a divine imprint.

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.

We hope you’ll join us as we reach out to our neighbors in need. For more information, contact Connie Webster, DCMS director of community health & Project Access Dallas, at 214-413-1426 or connie@dallas-cms.org.

P.O. Box 4680 • Dallas, Texas 75208
Phone: 214-948-3622 • Fax: 214-946-5805
www.projectaccess.info