‘What a big deal’: Construction to begin on first health clinic in Las Vegas Trail
For a resident of the Las Vegas Trail neighborhood in Fort Worth, a trip via public transportation to affordable health care usually takes at least an hour.
To get to the closest primary care clinic operated by JPS Health Network, the trip might take only 45 minutes — if you time it right to catch both buses. (The drive to the clinic, the Viola Pitts-Como Health Center, would take about 10 minutes via car.)
Getting to the JPS emergency room takes even longer, requiring at least two buses and about 15 minutes of walking.
Soon, the trip will get much shorter.
Cook Children’s Health Network and JPS celebrated Tuesday a groundbreaking on a new health clinic in the neighborhood. The center, which is expected to open in 2025, will provide primary medical and mental health care for children and adults, and will also include a food pantry, job training, and a Fort Worth Police outpost.
The new clinic is a milestone for the neighborhood, which has long been without a source of health care. About one in every four families in the neighborhood does not have reliable access to transportation, said Paige Charbonnet, the executive director of LVTRise, a nonprofit dedicated to the LVT neighborhood.
The area, which is also referred to as Western Hills or Western Hills North, is bordered by Interstate 30 and Camp Bowie Boulevard West to the north and south and Cherry Lane and Loop 820 to the east and west.
The clinic will be built on 3.7 acres at the intersection of Calmont Avenue and Cherry Lane that was donated to Cook Children’s. The children’s hospital will oversee the construction. Both the children’s hospital and JPS will provide medical care.
“We’re eliminating a barrier to an elevated quality of life,” Charbonnet said at a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday. “What a big deal.”
The community has been the focus of renewed attention and investment from leaders since 2017, when the Star-Telegram highlighted some of the area’s most pressing challenges, including high rates of poverty and crime and limited access to fresh food, public transportation, safe housing, and health care.
In response, the city of Fort Worth purchased an old YMCA at 8201 Calmont Ave. and opened a community center there. Residents can also get a range of services, including one-on-one support, from LVT Rise at the community center. LVT Rise has worked with leaders including council member Michael Crain, who represents the neighborhood on City Council, to listen to residents’ top priorities for their neighborhood.
Currently, the closest low-cost health provider to the neighborhood is the North Texas Area Community Health Center, a federally-funded health clinic that treats many patients with public health insurance or without health insurance. For a resident of Las Vegas Trail who doesn’t have a car, it would take them well over an hour to get to the health center: A 20-minute walk to a bus stop, a 32-minute bus ride, and then another 20-minute walk to finally reach the clinic, according to a 2022 LVT transformation plan.
The neighborhood plan, published last year, outlined providing health care in the core of the neighborhood as one of its top goals. The plan also called for major investments in public and neighborhood health, including more parks and open spaces, roads and sidewalks that allow for safer walking, more access to fresh food, and better public transportation as essential to improving health for residents.
This story was originally published November 14, 2023 at 12:54 PM.
