The Rotary Club of Park Cities was happy to see that the work of Agape Clinic was being recognized by being featured in a story on the role of community clinics during COVID-19 on the front page of the Dallas Morning News on September 13.
Agape Clinic was founded in an East Dallas Church basement by Dr. Barbara Baxter, the wife of one of our members who passed away several years ago. She wanted to provide medical care on Saturdays to those who could not afford it. Since that time Agape Clinic has moved into its own building, provides a variety of medical services all week, and has taken an important place among the network of community clinics in Dallas. The entire article can be found at- https://edition.pagesuite.com/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=d85fe83a-5641-43f8-b76a-4c9017aed4bf.
The portion on the work of RCPC’s collaborative partner, Agape Clinic, reads as follows:
“Agape Clinic, one of the North Texas community clinics that offer care to hundreds of people at low cost, has seen a stream of patients who fear they have COVID-19 symptoms.
In 2020, Agape Clinic treated 18,223 patients from underserved communities.
The portion on the work of RCPC’s collaborative partner, Agape Clinic, reads as follows:
“Agape Clinic, one of the North Texas community clinics that offer care to hundreds of people at low cost, has seen a stream of patients who fear they have COVID-19 symptoms.
In 2020, Agape Clinic treated 18,223 patients from underserved communities.
The ones who get the disease diagnosed in time often can be treated for the illness before it becomes serious and take preventive measures to avoid spreading it further.
Paul Hoffmann, executive director of Agape, said the clinic in Old East Dallas has seen a rise in visits in recent weeks because of the prevalence of coronavirus in the community.
“Yes, we have seen more young people coming in with these symptoms who didn’t get the vaccine earlier, and now they have caught COVID,” he said. “It’s sad these people who decided to not get the vaccine can fall ill now.”
The rise in unvaccinated young patients has led the clinic to focus on persuading people to get inoculated to avoid more deaths. Agape Clinic is not administering the vaccines because it doesn’t have the refrigeration equipment to preserve them, but it helps patients find out where they can get shots.
“The Latino community trusts us. They come here when they’re afraid of going somewhere else,” Hoffmann said. “That’s why it is important to tell them the reasons they have to get vaccinated. We have been changing patients’ mindsets — one at a time.”