Bishop Ernest T. Dixon, Jr. Clinic to relocate to a familiar address in Southeast San Antonio
Methodist Healthcare Ministries' will relocate its primary care clinic to the former home of Southeast Baptist Hospital.
San Antonio (Jan. 12, 2017) – For 20 years, the Bishop Ernest T. Dixon, Jr. Clinic, owned and operated by Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc., has served San Antonio's uninsured patients from the Eastside Medical Office Building on East Commerce Street. Methodist Healthcare Ministries is proud to announce it will relocate its Bishop Ernest T. Dixon, Jr. Clinic to a familiar address on the Southeast side of San Antonio. The property which once was home to Southeast Baptist Hospital was purchased Jan. 11 by Methodist Healthcare Ministries and will be the grounds for the expansion of its Dixon Clinic services when it relocates late 2017.
The Dixon Clinic is part of Methodist Healthcare Ministries' strategy for improving community health and is intended to stimulate additional investment in health care services on the Eastside. "We opened the Dixon Clinic with the vision that it would become a resource for uninsured and low-income families who had no other access to primary care or social services. Our goal then was to draw additional resources to what had been a dramatically underserved area. Today, in addition to operating the Dixon Clinic we continue to fund the Eastside through partners such as CommuniCare and CentroMed," explained Kevin C. Moriarty, president and CEO of Methodist Healthcare Ministries.
In March 2015, Methodist Healthcare Ministries commissioned Capital Healthcare Planning, an independent consulting firm, to identify and determine high-level needs of at-risk populations across the greater San Antonio area (read report: Bexar County Uninsured Market Assessment: Primary Care). The objective was to understand the current provision of care to at-risk populations within Bexar County; identify major gaps in care that might suggest opportunity for Methodist Healthcare Ministries to provide additional resources; and to work with community leaders, partners and stakeholders to develop consensus around a model and plan for service delivery to address those gaps in care. "The data showed an emerging unmet need. It affirmed we still have work to do on the Southeast side and the Dixon Clinic was the answer just as it was 20 years ago," said Moriarty.
Southeast Baptist Hospital closed its doors in 2011. The current property grounds have two medical office buildings, as well as the once Southeast Baptist Hospital building, all of which sits on 20 acres of land. Dixon Clinic operations will relocate to one of the medical office buildings while the other is currently occupied by a group of private physicians. The hospital building will be demolished as additional plans for the site develop.
"We are thrilled to make this announcement as we celebrate the Dixon Clinic's 20th anniversary," said Moriarty. "Bishop Dixon, for whom the clinic is named after and who served in The United Methodist Church for many years, would have been so proud that a service that provides care to a community he loved, and which we have been honored to be a part of, will continue to serve so many."
For the latest updates on the Dixon Clinic relocation, please visit http://www.mhm.org/clinics/bishop-ernest-t-dixon-jr-clinic.
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About Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.
Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. is a private, faith-based not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating access to health care for the uninsured through direct services, community partnerships and strategic grant-making in 74 counties across South Texas. The mission of the organization is "Serving Humanity to Honor God" by improving the physical, mental and spiritual health of those least served in the Rio Texas Conference area of The United Methodist Church. The mission also includes Methodist Healthcare Ministries' one-half ownership of the Methodist Healthcare System, the largest healthcare system in South Texas, which creates a unique avenue to ensure that it continues to be a benefit to the community by providing quality care to all and charitable care when needed. For more information, visit www.mhm.org.