The Agape Clinic and Primary Care Services
Agape was founded in 1983. Agape's primary partner in community health, Baylor Community Care, started in 1991, but was based on work originally begun in 1981. Please see Who We Are for more history.
Services are available Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays (schedule below) in the community and at Grace United Methodist Church, 4105 Junius @ Haskell. Services are dedicated to the Glory of God.
There are a number of free clinics doing wonderful work in the Dallas area. What makes Agape unique (locally and nationally) is the integration of comprehensive services in a medically underserved community, at a very low cost. Services include primary medical care, immunizations, spiritual care, community health care, social services, professional education, and community development.
Primary Medical Care
The heart of all Agape services (and the means by which patients and community become involved in preventive and other health-oriented services) is primary care for people who are sick (more than 5000 each year). Care includes medications, the average retail cost of which is $45.00/patient. Services are delivered by volunteer physicians, nurse practitioners, and students from Baylor, UT Southwestern, and other schools. Health problems treated at Agape include acute illnesses such as pharyngitis, urinary tract infections, and common skin disorders. Chronic health problems treated at Agape include asthma, hypertension, and diabetes. In addition to treating the more common primary care problems we provide specialty care, including pediatrics, dermatology, psychiatry, and women’s health.
Immunizations
Agape is the only site in Dallas providing immunizations on Saturdays year-round. This is significant because Texas ranks 46th in national immunization rates, and Dallas is ranked even lower than Texas as a whole.
Spiritual Care
Spiritual or partially spiritual crises identified and treated at Agape include family violence, poverty, injustice, isolation and a host of other chronic stressors. Creations of Faith, a spiritual ministry targeting at-risk Hispanic women, was initiated in 2002 by the Agape Clinical Coordinator to provide a safe place for fellowship, prayer, Bible study, and therapy. This ministry has since been transitioned to Grace United Methodist Church and remains active. Agape staff and volunteers pray with patients and give other spiritual care when appropriate, and the clinic serves as a placement site for seminary students. Although predominantly Christian, Agape offers specific spiritual care to any patient in need, regardless of faith or creed.
Community Health
In a typical year, Agape holds four mammogram and other (hypertension, diabetes, asthma, etc.) screening events as well as a childhood vaccination and screening event. Screening is coupled with health teaching and all patients with positive findings receive follow-up. Through Agape’s partner, Baylor School of Nursing, weekly health-related classes are provided for parents at Zaragoza and Lipscomb Elementary Schools (both are near Agape), as well as health classes for DISD students. Baylor students and promotoras also follow-up on complex patients and provide outreach to more isolated patients. Community partners such as Concilio Dallas offer weekly classes on diabetic self care and how to access CHIP and Medicaid.
Social Services
The health problems of many of Agape’s patients are worsened or complicated by a variety of other issues. From teaching people how to use private insurance to assisting people into the healthcare system, patient advocacy and assistance are key aspects of care at Agape.
Professional Education
Agape is a training/clinical and service-learning site for students from Baylor, University of Texas at Arlington, Texas Women’s University, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas Theological Seminary, and other institutions.
Community Development
The recent grants awarded by the Dallas Women’s Foundation brings to fruition ongoing work at Agape to advance the health of the community through community empowerment. Agape has a history of recruiting volunteers from the community served by the clinic (the community served thus becomes the community of solution). The Women’s Foundation grant allows us to train promotoras salud (lay health promoters) from the community to teach and assist patients in the clinic and the community. Also see proposed project.
Community Partners
Providing comprehensive care such as outlined above requires extraordinary cooperation among different organizations. Agape approaches relationships with other organizations from a working perspective, meaning that these relationships are action-oriented rather than forums for discussion. Community partners include:
- - The community itself
- The many professional and lay volunteers who provide services on an ongoing basis
- Baylor University School of Nursing: Students work in the clinic, provide outreach, follow-up, and community education
- Other area universities such as Texas Woman’s University and University of Texas at Arlington
- Weed and Seed: Community health development
- Dallas County Medical Society, especially in providing services to Hurricane Katrina evacuees
- Concilio Dallas: Diabetes and resources education for Agape staff and patients
- Church Health Ministries: Important source of more complex care than we provide
- East Dallas Health Center: Important source of more complex care than we provide
- Zaragoza and Lipscomb Elementary Schools: Community-based outreach and education
- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW Medical School)
- Common Grace Ministries: Spiritual care and seminary placement
- Dallas Independent School District: Sites for community education; student placement sites
A number of other organizations and individuals participate in the life of Agape.
A conservative estimate of volunteer hours serving patients follows: Lay volunteers give at least 2,500 hours. Physicians, nurse practitioners, and RNs give more than 1,200 hours. Students from Baylor University’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing Community Care program and from other schools make enormous contributions to the clinic and community. Click here for volunteer information.
Clinic Hours
- Wednesday: 8:00 - 12:00 (September - May)
- Thursday: 7:30 - 4:00
- Friday: 7:30 - 12:00
- Saturday: 8:00 - 12:00 (immunizations available)