North Texas Area Community Health Centers opened its new eye care center, the Northside Eye Care Center, 2332 Beverly Hills Dr., on Nov. 8, in hopes of offering vision services to residents.
“As a medical practice, we strive to provide a full range of services and to look at not just the individual, but the family and the community they come from,” North Texas Area Community Health Centers CEO Gerrie Whitaker said. “It is not about the number of people, it’s about being a part of your community.”
By opening affordable and accessible health care facilities close to each other, in this case one floor apart, the organization hopes to create a healthier community, she added. The North Texas Area Community Health Center’s North Side facility offers pharmaceutical, adult, pediatric, behavioral and women’s health services.
Dr. Mary Kate Sain, Northside Eye Care Center clinic director, left, and Dr. Patricia Rodriguez, North Texas Area Community Health Centers chief medical officer, right, spoke at the Northside Eye Care Center grand opening on Nov. 8. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
North Texas Area Community Health Centers board member William Venable, left, talks to Clinic Director of Community Eye Clinic Dr. Jennifer Deakins, right. The Community Eye Clinic, 655 Taylor St., was established in the summer of 2013. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
District 33 state Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX) speaks at the Northside Eye Care Center grand opening on Nov. 8. Veasey was born and raised in Fort Worth. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Dr. Patricia Rodriguez, North Texas Area Community Health Centers chief medical officer, far left, Dr. Mary Kate Sain, Northside Eye Care Center clinic director, center left, District 33 state Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX), center right, and Dr. Jennifer Deakins, clinic director of Community Eye Clinic, far right, spoke at the Northside Eye Care Center grand opening on Nov. 8. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
North Texas Area Community Health Centers CEO Gerrie Whitaker listens to a speaker at the Northside Eye Care Center grand opening on Nov. 8. Whitaker hopes to make health care accessible to all residents of North Side. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Dr. Patricia Rodriguez, North Texas Area Community Health Centers chief medical officer, prepares to speak at the Northside Eye Care Center grand opening on Nov. 8. The center will open in partnership with Lighthouse for the Blind, North Texas Area Community Health Centers, the Alcon Foundation, the Amon G. Carter Foundation and the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Dr. Mary Kate Sain, Northside Eye Care Center clinic director, talks to visitors at the eye care center’s grand opening. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Community residents and leaders clap while Northside Eye Care Center officials give speeches. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
The Northside Eye Care Center will provide optical assistance to residents. Part of the center’s goal is to provide accessible health care in one location. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
A phoropter sits in a room at the Northside Eye Care Center on Nov. 8. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Eye care equipment is ready for use at the Northside Eye Care Center. The center opened to the public on Nov. 8. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
The Northside Eye Care Center will offer a variety of frames at three different price points. The Lighthouse for the Blind, a local nonprofit, will provide frames to the center. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
New equipment sits in labs inside the new Northside Eye Care Center, 2332 Beverly Hills Dr. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Lighthouse for the Blind CEO Platt Allen III partners with the Northside Eye Care Center to provide glasses frames. Allen III said the partnership has been in the works for two years. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
District 2 Councilmember Carlos Flores listens to an eye care center official at the center’s grand opening on Nov. 8. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Food sits on a table for guests at the Northside Eye Care Center grand opening on Nov. 8. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report)
“This clinic is really unique because it really creates this medical home for our patients where they’re able to receive most of or all of their vital health care in a single facility,” Dr. Mary Kate Sain, an optometrist and the clinic director at Northside Eye Care Center, said.
The eye care facility is the first of its kind in any of the organization’s three locations in North Side, Arlington and Southeast Fort Worth. North Texas Area Community Health Centers plans on diving into dental care next, Whitaker said.
“Having services all in one place, helps us move the needle,” Whitaker said. “We’re trying to educate the community.”
Cristian ArguetaSoto is the community engagement journalist at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him by email or via Twitter. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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