Mission East Dallas serves all patients, regardless of their ability to pay. (Photo from Facebook)
Mission East Dallas, a local health clinic with a focus on low income patients, is expanding to provide a medical home for their growing patient load in East Dallas. The mission hopes to remove barriers such as cost, language and insurance to provide medical and dental care to neighbors in need.
The clinic pulls a majority of its patients from 15 neighborhood zip codes, with a large portion coming from 75228 in East Dallas and 75150 in East Dallas and Mesquite. With over 1,000 patients on the dental waiting list alone, there is a clear need for growth. The expanded mission will grow from two dental chairs to 10, and from two medical exam rooms to five exam rooms and a triage room. This will allow them to better serve the nearly 5,000 unique patients for whom they currently provide care.
It began in 2000 after a local survey found that there were 50,000 people in East Dallas without health insurance, or a medical or dental home. Several houses of worship came together to form Mission East Dallas, which launched as a volunteer-run health clinic in the 1,400-square-foot Sunday School building located across the street from Shiloh Terrace Baptist Church at Oates and La Prada.
It has since expanded to include a separate dental building and between the two facilities they now have two full-time physicians in family medicine and two full-time dentists with a host of support staff. What was once an a clinic providing 4-8 hours of care a week has expanded to serve over 40 hours weekly.
Specializing in primary and preventative care, it partners with and receives referrals from Baylor, Scott and White Hospital-White Rock (formerly Doctor’s Hospital). Mission East Dallas’ goal is to provide a medical home for patients without one. This means that the patients don’t go to the emergency room every time they are sick, but are able to come to the mission for care, reducing costs for the patient and taxpayer.
The clinic doesn’t turn anyone away regardless of their ability to pay. It is open Monday through Thursday, from 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m., and on Friday from 7:30 a.m.-1 p.m. The clinic is located at 2914 Oates Drive.
Mission East Dallas can be reached by phone at 972-682-8917 or at missioneastdallas.org.
