Neighborhood doctors living right near them
Clinic’s physicians moved to where they saw poverty
DALLAS— Robert Garcia sat on an examination table, his hands in his lap with his fingers laced together. He looked at ease even though hewas at the doctor’s office.
The 61-year-old considers his doctor a friend— in addition to someone who cares about his health and whom he trusts to treat himwell.
“They helped withmy medicines and some sicknesses,” Garcia said as he waited to be seen at the southDallas clinic. “They’ve been real good to me, real nice.”
The twodoctors who work at The Baylor Scott and White CitySquare Clinic make it a point to build relationships with their patients. Instead of the typical 15-minute visit, they see their patients for at least 30minutes at a time, and they live in the same neighborhood as most of them.
They’ve visited barbershops to spread theword about their clinic and have partnered with faith leaders in an attempt to build a bridge of trust that health experts say is often missing between doctors and communities of color.
TheDallas clinic is in the 75215 ZIP code, where residents have one of the lowest life-expectancy rates in the state at 67.6 years, according to aUT Southwestern study.
The clinicwas opened the year before the study concluded, so it’s difficult to measure the effect the clinic has had on life expectancy. But the doctors whowork there see the value in what they do.
“Wewanted to see what the needwas inDallas, and
we did a lot of research to understand where the city is divided,” Dr. BenjaminMcKinney said. “We sawthat where there was concentrated poverty, therewas also a lack of medical resources.”
Barriers to health care services can include transportation, income, access to health insurance and even a patient’s trust in the medical system. That trust iswhyMcKinney and Dr. Garrett Schwab live in the neighborhood they serve.
“Being white males in a neighborhood predominantly filledwith people of color, I think it helps to step in and build a bridge to the barrier that’s there,” McKinney said. “I think there’s a lot ofwalls up for one reason or another when it comes to caring for patients, and so much of the medical field is built on trust.
“Patients have to trust their doctor if they’re going to take their medicine whenwe’re giving them something they might have to put into their body for the rest of their lives.”
McKinney and Schwab make their presence known in the neighborhood.
Evenwithout official marketing, the clinic sees about 80 new patients a month.
Recently, an increasing number of those patients have been fromthe Hispanic community, which isn’t the closest to the clinic, butword of mouth has built trust.
“I think with the current climate of politics right now, (there is) that fear of taking help fromthe government for fear of deportation,” McKinney said. “When patients can come and say, ‘You know, these people love me and they care for me and I’m safe and they look out for me and they not only giveme what I need, but they speakmy language, and theywant to be a part of my life,’ I think that’s why people come here.”
But health is a small piece of the puzzle, McKinney said, explaining that the clinic asks patients to fill out a social-needs questionnaire.
Clinic employees can help connect peoplewith services that help pay bills, get healthy foods and transportation.
“This allows us to take better care of our patients,” McKinney said.