Sí Texas Project celebrates three-year mark on commitment to improving health

By Stephanie McClain, Project Impact Manager

We are pleased to celebrate Methodist Healthcare Ministries' three-year mark on the commitment to improve health through our Sí Texas: Social Innovation for a Healthy South Texas project – a Social Innovation Fund program which stimulates local solutions that improve both physical and behavioral health together, such as diabetes and depression.

Sí Texas focuses on integrated behavioral health (IBH) models that are effectively improving health outcomes in communities with high rates of poverty, depression, diabetes, obesity and associated risk factors. The project targets 12 South Texas counties: Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, Willacy, Kenedy, Brooks, Jim Hogg, Zapata, Duval, Jim Wells, Kleberg and Webb, and is the result of an investment from the Social Innovation Fund of the Corporation for National and Community Service.

The power of a name
Being that this was Methodist Healthcare Ministries' first federal grant, we wanted a unique name that resonated with our audiences. Although the grant technically didn't begin until Sep. 2014, we celebrate March 25, 2014 as the day we named our project.

Three years ago, Methodist Healthcare Ministries staff was preparing to submit the grant application, and a cross-departmental committee convened to: make sure the grant proposal captured Methodist Healthcare Ministries' intentions, oversee the grant submission, and eventually oversee implementation. During one of those initial meetings, our communications manager presented the name: "Sí Texas: Social Innovation for a Healthy South Texas," and the vote was unanimous.

A name has power, and this name has endured. The name has been repeated all over the nation. Sí Texas is becoming a synonym for improved mental and physical health, culturally competent care, community-driven solutions, cross-sector engagement and innovative solutions.

The power of collaboration
The participants in our Sí Texas committee have changed somewhat, and the name of the committee has gone through some revisions, but we've been meeting most Tuesday mornings for three years now to keep Sí Texas moving along. This milestone is not one that the Sí Texas project team can celebrate in isolation. Many departments have made critical contributions to this enormous effort: our admin team, Wesley Nurses, community counselors, our IT department, HR department, accounting and finance team, communications, community grants, community engagement, policy and research, and many individuals within these and other areas.

The power of community
This initiative is only possible with the support of co-investment partners. Methodist Healthcare Ministries and the Social Innovation Fund are joined by the Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation, Lamar Bruni Vergara Trust, Guadalupe & Lilia Martinez Foundation, Meadows Foundation, Hogg Foundation, Mercy Caritas, Alice Kleberg Reynolds Foundation, Superior Health Plan, and the Kenedy Foundation. These generous investments represent a stalwart commitment to improving the lives of those least served and a strong measure of trust in the organizations providing the services. Community-based organizations are at the center of the Sí Texas project and to the excellent care being provided to our community members. Our sub-grantees: Texas Tropical Behavioral Health, UT Health Houston School of Public Health, Texas A&M International University, REAL, Inc., Mercy Ministries of Laredo, Hope Family Health Center, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and Nuestra Clinica del Valle are not only giving excellent clinical care, but they are also increasing the entire region's ability to conduct rigorous evaluation and attract new and diverse resources.

The power of commitment
Our work at Methodist Healthcare Ministries is important. Our commitment to the health of our communities is not to do what's easy or clear. Our commitment is to do the difficult, the complex, the exploratory and the critically important work of improvement and support for positive, innovative change.

To all staff, thank you for the courage and commitment you've given the Sí Texas Project in its first three years. I can't wait to see what comes next!

A look at a Sí Texas Project Integrated Behavioral Health model: Juntos for Better Health

By Anne Connor, director of community grants

In 2014, Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. launched the Sí Texas Project: Social Innovation for a Healthy South Texas (Sí Texas Project) with support from an unprecedented federal investment of $10 million by the Social Innovation Fund, a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service. Through the Sí Texas Project, Methodist Healthcare Ministries is evaluating nine evidence-based models of Integrated Behavioral Health (IBH) care, with some innovative aspects targeted at 12 counties within Methodist Healthcare Ministries' service area.

This week I'd like to take a closer look at the Juntos for Better Health IBH model. Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) and its partners will implement this model in the Laredo area. This model combines prevention and IBH care.

Juntos for Better Health is a partnership of several community service providers, forming the first fully-coordinated health care delivery system among multiple partners in Laredo. It is based on the Dartmouth Prevention Care Management Unit (PCMU) model, which places empowerment of clients and communities at the core. The goal of this project is to develop a coordinated and integrated health care delivery network to improve the health of the community.

TAMIU and its partners will focus on the health care system in Webb, Zapata and Jim Hogg counties. This model provides a continuum of care for those with obesity, diabetes, and depression, using a prevention focus to increase compliance, traveling teams, and additional personnel to increase health care capacity, a shared system of resources, and improving knowledge of illnesses. Juntos for Better Health is comprised of three different, but interacting intervention prongs.

1. Prong 1 involves a health education activity and a treatment compliance component. The Juntos model will offer health education on obesity, diabetes, and depression to participants in various community settings in an effort to increase prevention of these illnesses by improving knowledge. TAMIU College of Nursing faculty and students will follow a modified version of the Dartmouth Prevention Care Management Model, which involves a PCMU. Patients with diabetes and/or depression at Border Region Behavioral Health Center and the Laredo Health Department, as well as partnering organizations, who miss appointments, will receive phone calls and home visits in an effort to increase treatment plan compliance.

2. Prong 2 involves traveling health care teams. These teams will engage clients of partner organizations and refer them to appropriate services. Clients who are referred for services but are noncompliant will be placed in the PCMU group for follow-up (Prong 1).

3. Prong 3 involves building capacity and sharing resources among and within partner organizations through the addition of staff, development of referral protocols, and developing a shared health information system to improve plans of care and facilitate referrals.

TAMIU and its partners will implement an intervention that combines the Dartmouth PCMU model and the innovative Juntos model, both of which are client/community empowerment models.

To view previous blogs in this series of Sí Texas blog posts, subscribe at www.mhm.org/blog.

A look at Sí Texas Project’s Integrated Behavioral Health models: NuCare and Salud y Vida 2.0

By Anne Connor, director of community grants

In 2014, Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. launched the Sí Texas Project: Social Innovation for a Healthy South Texas (Sí Texas Project) with support from an unprecedented federal investment of $10 million by the Social Innovation Fund, a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service. Through the Sí Texas Project, Methodist Healthcare Ministries is evaluating nine evidence-based models of Integrated Behavioral Health (IBH) care, with some innovative aspects targeted at 12 counties within Methodist Healthcare Ministries' service area.

This week I'd like to take a closer look at two IBH models as part of the Sí Texas Project:

1. NuCare: Nuestra Clinica del Valle (NCDV) is implementing NuCare based on the collaborative care model at four of their primary care clinics in the Rio Grande Valley. A hallmark of the model is that patients are not referred to services, but the services come to them. NuCare includes a warm hand-off from the primary care provider to a mental health provider for an immediate, brief mental health intervention and warm hand-offs for health education and nutrition services. One of the innovative features of this model is the use of "promotores," or community health workers. In this project, the community health workers will meet patients in the reception area and accompany them through the visit, assist with depression screening, and meet the patient after the physical examination for an invitation to a wellness program. It is quite innovative to give promotores behavioral health responsibilities since they have been traditionally utilized for community outreach and health education. The focus in selecting promotores will be on hiring those who are controlled diabetics (true peers of the diabetic patients), Hispanic, suited to positions of leadership and program facilitation, and eager to accept training. Their involvement in administering the depression-screening tool (PHQ-9) is key because the clinic population is likely to need assistance because of challenges in reading and fear of behavioral healthcare. The physician and care team in further behavioral health assessments will use this information. The NuCare theory of change is that IBH, combined with health education, nutrition, and community-based support services, can improve diabetes control and reduce depressive symptoms. Improvement in physical and mental health will be achieved over several years in measurable impact for depressive symptoms and HbA1c levels among program participants. The warm hand-off from the primary care provider to the mental health provider, plus the presence of the promotor, breaks through the cultural barrier of stigma against behavioral health services and allows the counselor to develop rapport, encouraging patient confidence in the services offered.

2. Salud y Vida 2.0: The UT School of Public Health–Brownsville Campus will implement the Salud y Vida 2.0 model. The model incorporates enhanced primary and behavioral care, medication therapy management, community-based lifestyle programs, and teams of promotores or community health workers to conduct home follow-up visits. Medication Therapy Management will be provided for participants with low levels of medication adherence, and behavioral health services will be provided for participants who do not qualify for services with the local mental health authority, but who need behavioral health support. Community-based lifestyle programs will be provided across the Rio Grande Valley for the participants and their loved ones through peer-led support groups, cooking classes to build hands-on skills for patients wishing to prepare healthier foods, a healthy food choice customized smartphone application, and an obesity treatment program. The key to integration is on-going, systematic communication between hospital, clinic, mental health case managers, and the team of promotores who are following up with participants in their homes and at community-based educational sessions. Semimonthly case review meetings and a shared, secured web-based system called Chronicle Diabetes allow for coordination of participant services, advocacy, education and care. This model builds upon their existing Salud y Vida 1.0 program, a comprehensive chronic care management program that includes diabetes self-management education, integrated care planning and case review and outreach by community health workers.

To view all blogs in this series of Sí Texas blog posts, subscribe at www.mhm.org/blog.

A look at Sí Texas Project’s Integrated Behavioral Health models: CHISPA, TRIP for Salud y Vida, and Sí Texas Hope

By Anne Connor, director of community grants

In 2014, Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. launched the Sí Texas Project: Social Innovation for a Healthy South Texas (Sí Texas Project) with support from an unprecedented federal investment of $10 million by the Social Innovation Fund, a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service. Through the Sí Texas Project, Methodist Healthcare Ministries is evaluating nine evidence-based models of Integrated Behavioral Health (IBH) care, with some innovative aspects targeted at 12 counties within Methodist Healthcare Ministries' service area.

This week I'd like to take a closer look at three IBH models as part of the Sí Texas Project:

1. Community Healthcare InveSted in keeping Patients Active (CHISPA): El Milagro Clinic is implementing the Community Healthcare InveSted in keeping Patients Active (CHISPA) model in McAllen, Texas. This model is heavy on community-based chronic disease services, including the use of promotores in both the community and the clinic. The model utilizes monthly group-mediated cognitive behavioral meetings, and community-based services through the Healthy Living Partnerships to Prevent Diabetes (HELP PD). CHISPA will adapt the HELP PD model to account for the unique cultural and geographic needs of the Rio Grande Valley. An integral and innovative component of the CHISPA program, is the use of promotores, or community health workers. This community health worker-led health promotion intervention emphasizes integration and coordination of primary care with behavioral health care services, with community health workers integrated into the clinic team through depression screening and other patient services. A key component is the use of an occupational therapist to work with patients to identify needs early on, set goals and monitor progress. The intervention will include an initial meeting with an occupational therapist and follow-up as needed to coordinate and manage community-based services that meet the individual needs of patients, including referral to behavioral health services. The occupational therapist and the community health workers will also lead the group-mediated cognitive behavioral meetings.

2. Transportation for Rural Integrated health Partnership (TRIP) for Salud y Vida: The Rural Economic Assistance League, Inc. (REAL) is implementing the Transportation for Rural Integrated health Partnership (TRIP) model for Salud y Vida model, based in Alice, Texas, and covering a rural five-county service area. Like the Tropical Texas Behavioral Health model profiled in the previous blog, it focuses on the needs of Severe & Persistent Mental Illness (SPMI) consumers. This model was developed by REAL, in partnership with Coastal Plains Community Center, a local mental health authority serving SPMI patients; Kleberg County Human Services – Paisano Transit; and the South Coastal Area Health Education Center. The model responds to a specific need to expand the reach of current IBH services within the rural community, specifically to address the 22 percent (more than 1 in 5) consumer no-show rate for follow-up care. If patients aren't showing up for their follow-up appointments, there is little hope of advancing their health care outcomes. The key element of the TRIP for Salud y Vida model is the systematic and seamless offering of transportation services and programs to build self-empowerment to SPMI patients in the five-county service area. All TRIP for Salud y Vida consumers have a behavioral health diagnosis including severe depression, bipolar or schizophrenia.

3. Sí Texas Hope: Hope Family Health Center is implementing this collaborative care model at its clinic in McAllen, Texas. Hope Family Health Center has already begun integration of services, and the Sí Texas Project will enable them to move further along the integration continuum. The intervention involves moving from Hope Family Health Center's current model, where medical and behavioral providers work with each other episodically, to a more fully integrated model with care coordination, shared treatment plans, shared service provision, and shared record keeping. To achieve this enhanced level of integration, Hope Family Health Center will change its current primary care workflow to include a behavioral health specialist who will conduct assessments, provide initial counseling (individual or group), and coordinate referrals to care management and/or community-based health services. They will also include a care coordinator to manage referrals and follow-up and a transitional nurse to provide health and nutrition coaching and medication management. The new model of care will emphasize more collaboration between primary care and behavioral health care providers, including enhanced communication.

A series of blog articles will be added to the Methodist Healthcare Ministries Blog over the next few weeks to introduce additional models. To stay in the loop, please subscribe to the Blog at www.mhm.org/blog.

A look at the Sí Texas Project Integrated Behavioral Health models: Sí Three, PCBH, and Reverse Co-location and Wagner

By Anne Connor, director of community grants

In 2014, Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. launched the Sí Texas Project: Social Innovation for a Healthy South Texas (Sí Texas Project) with support from an unprecedented federal investment of $10 million by the Social Innovation Fund, a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service. Through the Sí Texas Project, Methodist Healthcare Ministries is evaluating nine evidence-based models of Integrated Behavioral Health (IBH) care, with some innovative aspects targeted at 12 counties within Methodist Healthcare Ministries' service area.

This week I'd like to take a closer look at three IBH models as part of the Sí Texas Project:

1. Sí Three: Mercy Ministries of Laredo, a relatively small, faith-based clinic located in Laredo is implementing a model called, Sí Three: Integration of 3-D Health Services. The model's name comes from its three aspects of wellness: mind, body, and spirit. The model moves the clinic from its existing co-located model, in which behavioral and physical health services were offered in the same building, to an integrated model, in which these services are fully coordinated. Core components include:

  • Navigators: Nurse practitioners who provide primary care services and develop patients' care plans;
  • Referrals to internal and external resources, including telepsychiatry and faith-based counseling;
  • Care coordinators to follow up on patient referrals; and
  • Warm handoffs to behavioral health coordinators (licensed professional counselors) who patients see at every visit.

Mercy Ministries aims for its staff and providers to have a greater understanding of the roles and culture associated with IBH care. Patients' physical health is addressed through Mercy Ministries' primary care clinic. Mental health is addressed through internal and external referrals for counseling and through the use of telepsychiatry since psychiatrists are scarce in Webb County. Spiritual health is addressed through faith-based counseling. This is the only model in the Sí Texas Project that is evaluating a spiritual component, using a validated instrument that assesses spiritual well-being, and correlating the use of spiritual services with other key health outcomes related to diabetes, blood pressure, and depression.

2. Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH): The University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) is implementing the Mountainview Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH) model in McAllen and Edinburg. This model integrates care through a consultant model, in which behavioral health professionals function as consultants to primary care providers and to their patients. At UTRGV, this model is implemented at family practice clinics where UTRGV medical students are placed for their residencies. In addition to the innovative use of medical residents, a key feature of this model is the use of a behavioral health consultant. Trained to function as a generalist consultant for the primary care physician, the behavioral health consultant addresses lifestyle-based somatic complaints, subthreshold syndromes, preventive care, and chronic disease. The behavioral health consultant also develops a clear patient care plan for both the patient and the primary care physician to follow.

3. Reverse Co-location and Wagner: Tropical Texas Behavioral Health is implementing Reverse Co-location in Brownsville, and aims to accomplish the key elements of the Wagner model for effective chronic illness care. Tropical Texas Behavioral Health is a Local Mental Health Authority, an agency that serves patients with Severe & Persistent Mental Illness (SPMI). The approach is called "reverse" co-location, because it is more common to integrate mental health providers into a primary care setting than to integrate primary care providers into a mental health setting. Following the reverse co-location model, Tropical Texas Behavioral Health will embed primary care and preventive services within their behavioral health setting. The Wagner model features an organized delivery system linked with complementary community resources, sustained by productive interactions between multidisciplinary care teams and educated patients and families.

An important aspect of this model is the use of a collaborative, interdisciplinary provider team, which functions with the help of a care coordinator. The clinical team will deliver coordinated, preventive primary care to Tropical Texas Behavioral Health clients with SPMI and chronic disease (i.e., obesity, diabetes, hypertension, or hypercholesterolemia). At its core, the proposed intervention features a team of medical professionals consisting of a primary care physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner; a licensed vocational nurse; a registered dietician; a care coordinator; and other medical support staff. Together, this team will deliver coordinated, preventive primary care to Tropical Texas Behavioral Health clients with co-morbid SPMI and chronic disease (specifically obesity, diabetes, hypertension, or asthma) within a community-based outpatient behavioral health setting. SPMI includes individuals with major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other related disorders. Additionally, this model will actively link patients with various community resources beyond the clinic setting. Because of barriers created by SPMI, it is difficult for this target population to seek (on their own) services they need to help their lives be more stable and healthy.

A series of blog articles will be added to the Methodist Healthcare Ministries Blog over the next few weeks to introduce additional Sí Texas Project IBH models. To stay in the loop, please subscribe to the Blog at www.mhm.org/blog.

Q&A: Integrated Behavioral Health models and the Sí Texas Project

By Anne N. Connor, director of community grants

In 2014, Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. launched the Sí Texas Project: Social Innovation for a Healthy South Texas (Sí Texas Project) with support from an unprecedented federal investment of $10 million by the Social Innovation Fund, a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service. Through the Sí Texas Project, Methodist Healthcare Ministries is evaluating nine evidence-based models of Integrated Behavioral Health (IBH) care, with some innovative aspects targeted at 12 counties within Methodist Healthcare Ministries' service area.

Q: Why Integrated Behavioral Health?
A:
Methodist Healthcare Ministries' mission is to improve the health of those least served, in mind, body, and spirit. This holistic approach is reflected in IBH models, which bring collaborative teams of providers together to care for the whole person, addressing behavioral health and primary care not just under the same roof, but in a coordinated manner. Research has shown that an integrated approach leads to better health outcomes for patients, and there is a large incidence of comorbidities (co-occurring health issues that cross between mental and physical) in South Texas, so the need is there. Methodist Healthcare Ministries is also developing its own IBH team at its owned and operated clinics, a reflection of our commitment to this approach.

Q: How do you balance "evidence-based" with "innovative"?
A:
Sí Texas Project subgrantees started with models that had been proven effective, and modified them to be more appropriate for their local needs (such as for Hispanic border populations or rural populations). We are interested to see if these modifications help the models to be more effective here. It is part of the Social Innovation Fund's purpose to "support innovations that have advanced beyond the beginning stages, are showing signs of effectiveness, and have the potential for greater scale."

Q: How are you evaluating the models?
A: Methodist Healthcare Ministries has engaged Health Resources in Action (HRiA) to evaluate each model. Each model is being evaluated using either a Quasi-Experimental Design (with control groups) or a Randomized Controlled Trial (with random assignment), with robust research methodology and statistical analysis to back it up. Methodist Healthcare Ministries also built its own capacity by forming an internal evaluation team to interface between Methodist Healthcare Ministries and the subgrantees.

Q: What will you do when you find out which models work best?
A: The first phase of the Sí Texas Project is building evidence for the models. In the second phase, scaling what works, we will fund expansion of the most effective models, whether through the agencies already employing them, or by offering other subgrantees the chance to apply them.

Q: What are the nine models?
A: The nine IBH models will be showcased individually through a series of articles to be added to the Methodist Healthcare Ministries Blog over the next few weeks to introduce each model. To stay in the loop, please subscribe to the Blog at www.mhm.org/blog.

HOPE Family Health Center joins MHM’s Si Texas Project

McAllen, Texas—HOPE Family Health Center is one of seven organizations from the Rio Grande Valley, Coastal Bend and Laredo selected as an inaugural cohort of Methodist Healthcare Ministries' Sí Texas Project.

HOPE Family Health Center, a 501c3 in McAllen who provides free medical and counseling services to the uninsured, was one of seven organizations announced by Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. (MHM) to take part in Sí Texas: Social Innovation for a Healthy South Texas, a project powered by the Corporation for National and Community Service's Social Innovation Fund (SIF), to support proven approaches to addressing critical social issues. As a sub-grantee, HOPE will receive $1.25 million from as part of a $13 million investment made by MHM and $1.25 in matching funds to support innovative models addressing the health care concerns of South Texas.

MHM's investment in made possible by a grant in 2014 from SIF to help strengthen the channel of state and local governments and service providers to implement Sí Texas: Social Innovation for a Healthy South Texas.

HOPE Family Health Center provides medical and counseling services to individuals and families living in the Rio Grande Valley. Services aim to strengthen families through mind, body, and spirit by truly integrating care and providing multidisciplinary care services to patients.

HOPE's model of care utilizes volunteers from the medical community and grant funded therapists to provide quality services to the uninsured. New grant funds will assist HOPE in the delivery of free care to those in need.

"We are thrilled these seven organizations emerged as the trail blazers that will help test strategies that prove to be the most effective, as evidenced by an evaluation of their models, to address these health issues," said MHM president and CEO, Kevin C. Moriarty. "As a grant maker and direct service provider in this region, we are grateful to the Social Innovation Fund, a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, for recognizing that the best way to encourage innovation and to learn what truly works to solve a problem is to invest in it through organizations that know the communities and the populations they serve."

"HOPE is truly honored to partner with Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas's Si Texas Project and the other sub grantees to support the health care of the Rio Grande Valley. Through this investment in health HOPE will increase and improve the delivery of care to the uninsured by providing intensive integrated health care to treat the whole person — in mind, body and spirit. We are proud to be in this group of organizations committed to improving the health of our community."

The Sí Texas Project, through its sub-grantees, will attempt to build an intricate network of cross-sector partnerships that will lead region-wide improvements in those conditions. For more information on Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas Please see www.mhm.org, for more information on the Corporation for National and Community Service, visit NationalService.gov.

This article originally appeared in The Monitor and can be viewed by clicking here.

Largest Faith-Based Grantmaker in South Texas Awards $13 Million In Grants to Healthcare Providers

Seven organizations from the Rio Grande Valley, Coastal Bend and Laredo selected as inaugural cohort of Methodist Healthcare Ministries' Sí Texas Project

McAllen, TX – Today, Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. (MHM), the largest private, faith-based funding source for healthcare services in South Texas and a grantee of the Social Innovation Fund, announced a $13 million investment in South Texas' health care delivery system, as part of its Sí Texas Project: Social Innovation for a Healthy South Texas. Seven organizations from the Rio Grande Valley, Coastal Bend and Laredo were introduced as the inaugural cohort of sub-grantees of the initiative.

The sub-grants made to these organizations represent $13 million in funding to explore integrated behavioral health models that are effectively improving health outcomes in communities with high rates of poverty, depression, diabetes, obesity and associated risk factors.

"We at Methodist Healthcare Ministries are thrilled these seven organizations emerged as the trail blazers that will help test strategies that prove to be the most effective means, as evidenced by an evaluation of their models, to address these health issues," said MHM President & CEO, Kevin C. Moriarty. "As a grant maker and direct service provider in this region, we are grateful to the Social Innovation Fund for recognizing that the best way to encourage innovation and to learn what truly works to solve a problem is to invest in it through organizations that know the communities and the populations they serve."

In 2014, MHM received federal funding from the Social Innovation Fund (SIF), a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), to grow the impact of innovative, community-based solutions that have compelling evidence of improving the lives of people in low-income communities throughout the United States. MHM is the first-ever faith-based organization to receive funding from the SIF.

"We couldn't be more enthusiastic for the seven organizations selected today. They are making tremendous strides to improve physical and behavioral health outcomes for individuals in low-income communities across South Texas," said Lois Nembhard, Acting Director of the Social Innovation Fund. "We're pleased to work with Methodist Healthcare Ministries' Si Texas Project to offer compelling solutions to address health outcomes in South Texas over the five year period."

MHM launched an open competition in November 2014 for promising organizations with evidence of results to submit applications to receive subgrants of at least $250,000 to $2 million. The selected organizations will expand their reach to impact more people and will participate in evaluations to continue learning what works in the area of integrated behavioral health.

The seven South Texas organizations selected as the inaugural cohort of sub-grantees for the Si Texas Project are:

  • Lower Rio Grande Valley Community Health Management Corp, Inc. (El Milagro Clinic), Hidalgo County
  • The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA), Hidalgo County
  • Tropical Texas Behavioral Health, Cameron County
  • Community Hope Projects, Inc. (Hope Family Health Center), Hidalgo, Starr, Willacy, and Cameron Counties
  • Mercy Ministries of Laredo, Webb County
  • Texas A&M International University (TAMIU), Webb County
  • Rural Economic Assistance League (REAL), Brooks, Duval, Jim Wells, Kenedy, and Kleberg Counties

According to the 2001-2003 National Comorbidity Survey Replication, 68 percent of adults with mental disorders also had at least one general medical disorder, and 29 percent of adults with medical disorders had a comorbid mental health condition. Similarly, in 2008 an article published in The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine reported the depression rate in South Texas among Hispanic patients with Type 2 diabetes was at 39 percent. The Si Texas Project, through its sub-grantees, will attempt to build an intricate network of cross-sector partnerships that will lead region-wide improvements in those conditions.

The announcement was made during a two-day convening, where sub-grantees participated in sessions designed to prepare them for the evaluation and management of the grant funds. A second round of sub-grantees will be selected following an open, competitive application process ending May 29, 2015. Grants awarded during the second cycle will begin August 1, 2015. For more information about the second application visit www.mhm.org.

###

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 providing medical, dental and health-related human services to low-income families and the uninsured in 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 MHM's 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.

About The Corporation for National and Community Service

The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service and champions community solutions through its AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, Social Innovation Fund, and Volunteer Generation Fund programs, and leads the President's national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information, visit NationalService.gov.

 

Sí Texas Project to boost healthcare in Rio Grande Valley

By Rebecca "Becca" Brune, Vice President of Strategic Planning & Growth

When Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. (MHM) approved a funding alternatives strategic initiative last April, we shifted our operational model quite dramatically. Prior to that time, MHM's single revenue source came from its one-half ownership of the Methodist Healthcare System (MHS) – the largest health care system in South Texas. This ownership seat provided the organization a pool of money to dedicate to its own owned and operated programs, and to serve as a source of funding to like-minded nonprofits with a similarly-focused mission of providing quality health care to the uninsured or underinsured.

The ability to seek funding beyond what our ownership of MHS provides us meant that MHM could now seek out alternate sources of funding to address the severe lack of health care services to a large population of South Texans and have a stronger impact on population health outcomes. Now over a year since the organization's board of directors first approved the initiative, we're pleased to see our grant-seeking efforts being realized.

On Sep. 17, at the Social Innovation Fund Convening in Washington, DC, the Corporation for National and Community Service named MHM among one of seven new grant awards. The Social Innovation Fund (SIF), a key White House initiative and program of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) was created in 2009. MHM is counted in the fund's fifth class of grantees and is the only faith-based organization in the nation to receive an award.

Through SIF, MHM was awarded $10 million to serve as an intermediary. The project, being referred to a Sí Texas: Social Innovation for a Healthy South Texas, will support integrated behavioral health models to stimulate improvements in behavioral health and chronic disease in Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, Willacy, Kenedy, Brooks, Jim Hogg, Zapata, Duval, Jim Wells, Kleberg and Webb counties.

In accordance with SIF's model, MHM will match every federal dollar 1-to-1 in cash and then select nonprofit organizations, or subgrantees, through an open process for awards which will range from $250,000 to $2 million per year for up to five years. These grant awards are intended to leverage additional cash match 1:1 from nonfederal funding sources.

The request for proposals is available at MHM.org/SíTexas. On Nov. 11, MHM will host a press conference in McAllen to officially announce the project.

White close icon

Jaime Wesoloski

President & Chief Executive Officer

Jaime Wesolowski is the President and Chief Executive Officer at Methodist Healthcare Ministries. A healthcare executive with three decades of leadership experience, Jaime is responsible for the overall governance and direction of Methodist Healthcare Ministries. Jaime earned his Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration from Xavier University, and his Bachelor’s of Science from Indiana University in Healthcare Administration. As a cancer survivor, Jaime is a staunch supporter of the American Cancer Society. He serves as Chair of the American Cancer Society’s South Texas Area board of directors and he was appointed as Chair to the recently created South Region Advisory Cabinet, covering eight states from Arizona through Alabama. Jaime believes his personal experience as a cancer survivor has given him more defined insight and compassion to the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of patients and their families.