Last year, a new health center opened in Fort Worth\u2019s historically underserved Las Vegas Trail neighborhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 40,000-square-foot building provides pediatric and adult medical care to the neighborhood, along with workforce training and a food pantry, all under one roof.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In one year, more than 20,000 people sought medical care at the center. Thousands more received food, and 25 enrolled in career training.<\/p>\n
The center \u201chas made a real difference\u201d in the community, said Paige Charbonnet, executive director of neighborhood revitalization project LVTRise, in an email to the Fort Worth Report.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has made health care more accessible to residents and helped address a need the community identified when we began our revitalization efforts,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The statistics are now in from the center\u2019s first year. The Report examined the impact of those numbers.<\/p>\n
Patients seen and meals distributed<\/p>\n
The Las Vegas Trail neighborhood was \u201cconsidered a medical desert\u201d before the health center opened, said Wini King, since-retired senior vice president and chief of marketing and communications for Cook Children\u2019s Health Care System, at a media day last July.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was nothing here to provide this kind of convenience for these patients,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
From July 21, 2025, to July 31, 2026, the Cook Children\u2019s clinic saw 11,324 visits.<\/p>\n
JPS Health Network saw 10,139 visits during that same time period. More than half were for primary care. One in four were for obstetrics and gynecology, and nearly a quarter were for behavioral health.<\/p>\n
The colocation of the two health systems allows the center to provide whole-family continuity of care, said Veronica Tolley, vice president of primary care and specialty services for Cook Children\u2019s.<\/p>\n
She gave the example of a mother who brings her newborn to the Cook Children\u2019s clinic and is referred for postpartum depression to the JPS clinic \u2014 care for the parent and the child, all in a shared lobby.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen that over and over in this past year working really successfully,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/DSC04474-1024x683.jpg\")
Dr. Karen Duncan, CEO and president of JPS Health Network, and Rick Merrill, CEO and president of Cook Children\u2019s, celebrate the groundbreaking of the health systems\u2019 joint Las Vegas Trail neighborhood health center at the corner of Calmont Avenue and Cherry Lane on Nov. 14, 2023. (David Moreno | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
As for JPS, President and CEO Dr. Karen Duncan said in a statement to the Report that the more than 10,000 visits exemplifies increased access to care for the neighborhood\u2019s residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we’ve seen over the past year reinforces the importance of bringing care closer to the community and ensuring residents have access to high-quality healthcare when and where they need it,\u201d she said. \u201cWe’re grateful for the trust patients and families have placed in our team during the center’s first year.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/cook_childrens6-1-715x1024.png\")
(Haley Walton | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
The center also distributed more than $1.7 million in goods through the WestAid pantry and saw a total of 24,158 shopping trips and lunches provided for the homeless.<\/p>\n
Yuseff Howard, executive director of WestAid, said the last year has been one of growth for his organization. WestAid is serving more people now than when the food pantry first relocated to the building. Even still, the pantry has to turn people away. The demand has increased due to rising costs and cuts to<\/a> the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Howard said, and WestAid does not have enough volunteers to extend its hours.<\/p>\n Howard said the center\u2019s design creating close proximity between his food pantry and the health systems \u201chas just been a blessing.\u201d He emphasized how the organizations work together in the ways they serve the community, noting that nutrition impacts overall health.<\/p>\n \u201cThe amount of services that we\u2019re able to provide in this one location \u2014 it\u2019s a godsend,\u201d he said. \u201cIt truly is.\u201d<\/p>\n Howard also discovered a need to increase awareness of the other entities offering services in the center. By tabling in the building\u2019s lobby outside the clinics, he met visitors who did not know a food pantry was in another part of the building. And when WestAid visitors sit in the waiting room before doing their shopping trip, he has also found that many are not previously aware they can see a doctor at the same address.<\/p>\n Classes taught and community events held<\/p>\n With collaboration from Tarrant County College and Workforce Solutions of Tarrant County, the center offers job training, aiming to instill in participants skills needed for roles such as call center representative, medical receptionist and claims associate.\u00a0<\/p>\n After completing the program, graduates can apply for jobs at Cook Children\u2019s and JPS, certificate in hand.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole goal is to create that pathway for them to get a career in healthcare and grow that career, which will overall improve their economic well-being and their overall health,\u201d said Christine Hernandez, then a workforce development specialist for Cook Children\u2019s, at the media day last July.<\/p>\n A year later, the center has taught 25 students so far. Five were hired for roles at Cook Children\u2019s or JPS, Tolley said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The center also hosted 929 events, including community education, cooking classes, tours and meetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n The demonstration kitchen hosted 42 cooking classes attended by 437 people during its first nine months. It was designed with teaching nutrition classes in mind and includes a camera above the cooking area to project an overhead view of what the instructor is doing.<\/p>\n One of Tolley\u2019s favorite events was a May gallery night that displayed work from local students, focusing on feelings and mental health. The young artists, their families and members of the Cook Children\u2019s health system attended the event.<\/p>\n \u201cThe dignity and the pride that comes from acknowledging someone in the community like that, I think went much further than we had anticipated,\u201d Tolley said.<\/p>\n Looking to the future<\/p>\n Howard wants to continue the work his organization has been doing, he said, and to get the next generation involved in serving their community. As he put it, \u201cI\u2019m not going to be here forever. Neither are all the volunteers here.\u201d<\/p>\n He also would like to expand the food pantry\u2019s hours to keep it open later for those who work during normal business hours.<\/p>\n As for Cook Children\u2019s, its pediatric clinic has enough space to add another physician, and the health system will be watching to see when that need arises, Tolley said.<\/p>\n She also emphasized a desire to continue building relationships, including with residents as well as community partners.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat is where we prove that we\u2019re not just coming and leaving, that we\u2019re committed, that we are listening and continuously learning from what the community needs, and not assuming what they need,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have to continue to evolve.\u201d<\/p>\n McKinnon Rice is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Her position is supported by a grant from Texas Health Resources. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/20250729_LVTHealthCenter_09-1024x683.jpg\")
A video camera projects over a stovetop in the demonstration\/teaching kitchen at Cook Children\u2019s Neighborhood Health Center at Las Vegas Trail in Fort Worth on July 29, 2025. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report\/CatchLight Local\/Report for America)<\/p>\n