An oasis in the desert: New health clinic opens in Las Vegas Trail neighborhood
A groundbreaking health clinic has opened in the Las Vegas Trail neighborhood of Fort Worth, ending the neighborhood’s status as a health care desert and bringing needed care closer to home for thousands of residents.
The clinic, which began seeing patients July 23, includes a Cook Children’s Health Care System neighborhood clinic as well as a JPS Health Network medical home. The clinic is expected to serve more than 100,000 people who live in the neighborhood and nearby, according to Cook Children’s, as well as more than 20,000 children age 14 and younger. The 40,000-square-foot health center was built on 3.7 acres of donated land at the intersection of Calmont Avenue and Cherry Lane.
Before the clinic opened, residents had limited options when it came to health care, according to a 2022 LVT transformation plan. About one in every four families in the neighborhood lack reliable transportation, according to the plan. For those families, a trip to the doctor could take well over an hour. Getting to the Northside Community Health Center near Sansom Park, for example, would take a 20-minute walk to a bus stop, a 32-minute bus ride, and then another 20-minute walk to finally reach the clinic
One patient who will benefit from having a clinic in the neighborhood is Yolanda Phillips, a mom of two and LVT resident who said past trips to the doctor have been inconvenient and difficult. Past trips to urgent cares or the emergency room “just took forever,” Phillips said.
Now, Phillips is “right down the street” from the clinic, making it more convenient to take her two children to the doctor but also for her to get treatment.
The health clinic also includes: a demonstration kitchen, staffed with a registered dietician, where families can take cooking and nutrition classes; a food pantry operated by West Aid Food Pantry, where patients can shop for free food five days a week; a Fort Worth Police Department storefront; a workforce training program operated by JPS, Cook Children’s, Tarrant County College, and Workforce Solutions. The program’s first cohort of 15 students will participate in a 12-week training program that will train students for entry-level healthcare opportunities at Cook Children’s and JPS.
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.
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.
Increased access to health care was one of several priorities outlined in the 2022 neighborhood transformation plan, but there are still other goals for the neighborhood. Council member Michael Crain, who represents the neighborhood on City Council, said improving housing was a top priority for him moving forward.
Crain estimated that at least 1,500 housing units are sitting empty because they’re not up to code or because of other issues with the housing quality. The city has focused on increased code enforcement in the neighborhood, Crain said, as well as rezoning parts of the neighborhood to allow for denser development. Crain said the neighborhood lacks businesses like coffee shops and restaurants, and that he wants to encourage more of those spaces to open in Las Vegas Trail.
“That’s my hope at this point, that we start creating those places and spaces for people to feel this is really a community,” Crain said.
This story was originally published July 29, 2025 at 5:05 PM.
