\u201cWhen you look at the community, it is a health care desert,\u201d said Edmundo Casta\u00f1eda, Parkland\u2019s chief operating officer. \u201cThere is very limited primary care that\u2019s available in close proximity to where people live.\u201d<\/p>\n
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By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n The new clinic is expected to sit between warehouses in Wilmer, part of a larger development promising retail, lodging and restaurants.<\/p>\n Casta\u00f1eda said Parkland is in the early stages of planning the clinic, with construction expected to cost about $11 million.<\/p>\n As the county\u2019s public hospital, Parkland got permission from county leaders to acquire the land in November. Parkland is now going through due diligence, assessing the property near Medline Drive as part of the land purchase. That\u2019s expected to cost $3.4 million.<\/p>\n The site is \u201clong overdue\u201d for Wilmer-Hutchins, said John Wiley Price, the area\u2019s county commissioner. The area has been underserved for years, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is one of the fastest-growing portions of Dallas County in terms of its industrial base,\u201d Price said. \u201cAnd because of its industrial base and because of the growth spurt, we\u2019re beginning to think more and more about residential coming into that area.\u201d<\/p>\n Parkland sees need from Inland Port <\/p>\n The Inland Port area, home to more than 45,000 jobs, stretches across Wilmer, Hutchins and Lancaster, along with parts of Dallas and DeSoto. The area serves as an industrial hub for a variety of companies, including Amazon, Kroger, Procter & Gamble and Medline.<\/p>\n In recent years, the Inland Port area has seen its business boom. But it is particularly vulnerable when it comes to health, Casta\u00f1eda said. Over the next decade or two, he said it needs the investment.<\/p>\n There is a \u201cdearth of medical providers in the area,\u201d Casta\u00f1eda said. The clinic would be about 13 miles from Parkland\u2019s health center in Southeast Dallas and 16 miles from its C.V. Roman center to the west at the Shops at RedBird.<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n In the hospital system\u2019s emergency department, about 30% of visits from the area are for \u201clower-acuity\u201d conditions, Casta\u00f1eda said. That means they\u2019re visiting for conditions that could be handled outside the ER. He added that about 30% of surveyed adults in the area felt their health was fair or poor.<\/p>\n Factors outside of health care can also drive health outcomes, Casta\u00f1eda said, including access to utilities and transportation, food insecurity, poverty levels or the employment rate.<\/p>\n Small cities to see benefit<\/p>\n While thousands of people flock to the area for work or pass through on the highway, others live there.<\/p>\n Wilmer is a \u201cvery small city,\u201d with a population under 10,000, but is home to many businesses, said Mayor Sheila Petta. The city is also home to many seniors and children who have to head elsewhere, through traffic to places like Duncanville, to get care, Petta said. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is going to be very beneficial to us, but it\u2019s also going to be very beneficial to the other areas outside my city limits,\u201d Petta said. \u201cIt will be very convenient for the people out here and all the cities surrounding because they won\u2019t have to get in all that congestion.\u201d<\/p>\n Some residents have been against the center, worried it would attract \u201cbad people\u201d to the city, Petta said, but the majority she\u2019s spoken with are glad to see it.<\/p>\n Both Wilmer and nearby Hutchins have a higher rate of uninsured residents<\/a> when compared with state and national estimates.<\/p>\n In Wilmer, about a quarter of residents are estimated to be without health care coverage, according to U.S. Census Bureau data<\/a>. The employment rate is estimated at nearly 57%, but about 16% of the population has a bachelor\u2019s degree or higher.<\/p>\n![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/KLJPC7TNUFE7BJGGDHPFSKLLIA.jpg\")
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