Leaders Honored for Healthy Now, Healthy Future Initiatives
April 30, 2014
The Texas Medical Association Foundation will honor two Fort
Worth health advocates with its prestigious Health Leader Award,
Friday, May 2. Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price and Project Access Tarrant County
(PATC) will receive their awards during the TMA
Foundation’s 21st annual gala at the Omni
Fort Worth.
“These
outstanding Fort Worth health leaders show us what can be accomplished when
medicine, business, and community come together — the health of Texans can
measurably improve,” said G. Sealy Massingill, MD, Fort Worth OB-Gyn and TMA
Foundation president.
Individual Health
Leader Award Winner: Mayor Price will receive the Individual Health Leader
Award for promoting active lifestyles and creating a citywide environment
that encourages healthy choices. She has implemented many health promotion programs that improve the health
of the community. She was instrumental in developing and implementing FitWorth, Walk!
Fort Worth, and the Blue Zone urban project.
- FitWorth is a citywide initiative promoting
active lifestyles and healthy habits in both kids and adults.
- The
Walk! Fort Worth Pedestrian Transportation Plan is
under development and aims to make walking around Fort Worth safer and
more convenient.
- The
Blue
Zone urban project is a
citywide wellness program with the goal of helping residents improve their
health and live longer. Using the Blue Zone Project model, the Greater Los
Angeles Area reduced obesity by 14 percent and smoking by 30 percent, and
increased exercise and healthy eating by 10 and 9 percent, respectively.
Under Mayor
Price’s direction, Fort Worth has become a prominent bicycling community
with miles of new bike lanes and trails. She also promotes health and safety
prevention by supporting the work of the Tarrant County Medical Society
Alliance, who brought TMA’s Hard Hats for Little Heads program to Fort Worth Independent
School District and who annually
vaccinate an average of 5,600residents through the Immunization Collaboration of Tarrant County.
“Being a healthy and productive city starts at the top,”
said Mayor Price. “I’m proud to be the mayor of a city that is passionate about
promoting active lifestyles. Healthy citizens mean a thriving city and a strong
workforce.”
Program Health Leader
Award Winner: PATC will receive
the Program Health
Leader Award for providing free health care to uninsured Tarrant County
patients. Project Access was
created by Tarrant County Medical Society (TCMS) in 2010 to ensure low-income
individuals who lack insurance and do not qualify for public assistance have
access to care.
Project
Access patients see specialty physicians and receive all other needed health care
services (hospital inpatient and outpatient services, lab work, imaging,
rehabilitation, medications, etc.) at no cost.
Patients turn
to PATC for their medical needs instead of using
area emergency rooms. To date, Project Access has qualified more than 350
individuals for participation in the program. Currently, it has 160 active
patients with an additional 60 patients waiting to be matched to volunteer
physicians. These services have resulted in more than $3.5 million in donated
health care from physician volunteers, hospitals, and ancillary providers.
Other founding partners include Catholic Charities; Diocese of Fort Worth, Inc.;
Sid W. Richardson Foundation; and the Amon G. Carter Foundation.
Joe Todd, MD,
a Fort Worth orthopedic surgeon who helped get the program up and running,
says, “Project Access is
about giving back to the community we live in. We have a lot of people who need
care in Tarrant County, and this is an effective way to pool resources and deliver
affordable health care to folks who really need it."
Past TMAF Health Leaders Award Winners
- H-E-B and its president, Scott McClelland, who
are known for their strong
commitment to improve Texan’s health and well-being through community outreach.
- Joel
Dunnington, MD, Houston, known for his lifetime work to stop the
devastating health effects of tobacco use.
- Gracie Cavnar, the founder and pro-bono CEO of
Recipe for Success Foundation (RFS), which takes a hands-on approach to
nutrition education aimed at tackling childhood obesity and helping families
make healthy eating choices.
TMA is the
largest state medical society in the nation, representing more than 47,000
physician and medical student members. It is located in Austin and has 112
component county medical societies around the state. TMA’s key objective since
1853 is to improve the health of all Texans. TMA Foundation is the
philanthropic arm of the association and raises funds to support the health
improvement and science priority initiatives of TMA and the family of medicine.
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Contact: Pam Udall
phone: (512) 370-1382
cell: (512) 413-6807
Brent Annear
phone: (512) 370-1381
cell: (512) 656-7320
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