‘Telehealth pod’ at Salem church brings health care into Queen City neighborhood
Boisterous laughter and tempting aromas wafting from the fellowship hall were exactly the atmosphere expected following a Sunday worship service in South Dallas. It was not typical, however, for a medical clinic, which is how Salem Institutional Baptist Church’s space would be used in coming weeks.
A new “telehealth pod” had just been installed in a corner of the fellowship hall, looking something like a soundproof booth on a gameshow. Church members took turns ducking inside and examining the tablet screen on the desk between the two seats.
During operating hours, which are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m.-1 p.m, anyone sitting in the booth and facing the screen will be looking at the face of a medical professional. They might be conducting a counseling session, assessing a minor health condition, or referring to an in-person specialist.
This new “Neighborhood Connect Telehealth Initiative” — a partnership between Aetna CVS Health and the South Dallas Fair Park Faith Coalition, which Salem pastor Todd Atkins chairs — is intended to bring health care directly to neighborhood residents, bypassing barriers such as internet access, transportation, and the historical mistrust of Black Americans in medical care.
‘Telehealth pod’ overcomes internet, transportation barriers
Virtual medical appointments via a personal phone or computer have become more common in recent years, “but if you don’t have reliable internet or you can’t afford the internet service, it is a resource that you cannot use, “Atkins says. “Because we are able to pull resources — use the internet access we have here at the church, use the pod from Aetna — it’s going to be a game changer for those who often miss those medical appointments because they don’t have the transportation or the connectivity.”
Even with several general clinics in South Dallas — such as in Baylor Scott & White Family Health Center at the Juanita J. Craft Recreation Center, Parkland’s Hatcher Station Health Center, Foremost’s family clinic at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center — transportation can be a challenge. A 2019 community survey showed that 45 percent of people in the South Dallas zip codes of 75210 and 75215 don’t have cars.
“So many times our resources are outside of the community. They have to drive. They have to catch public transportation,” Atkins says. “But for the first time, they can have a routine medical event — even a mental health visit — right here in the community, and come to a place that is familiar.”
A trusted church confronts medical distrust
Salem Institutional Baptist Church is tucked into the middle of the historic Queen City neighborhood, a stone’s throw from the Park South YMCA and Charles Rice Learning Center, placing the telehealth pod. Both Aetna CVS Health staff and South Dallas Fair Park Faith Coalition leaders believe the people in this predominantly Black community will feel more comfortable walking into a neighborhood church asking for medical attention.
“They are the trusted members in the community that are go-tos. They have always served the community,” says Sunga-Kay Carter, Aetna’s lead director of Medicare health equity and community engagement. “We knew that in order to really be effective, we needed to help to stand up and support the great work that was already being done.”
A meeting two years ago in Fort Worth between pastors and health care officials ultimately led to the telehealth pod at Salem. It’s the company’s first in Texas, and three others will follow in Fort Worth, Houston and El Paso.
The pastors didn’t specifically ask for a telehealth pod, but “they identified access to care as being a major barrier,” Carter says, and the pod’s “cutting edge technology” was Aetna CVS Health’s response to address the needs voiced.
Parkland Health recently launched a similar effort in Pleasant Grove, with a telehealth pod at Inspired Vision Compassion Center. The nonprofit already had partnered with Parkland to host weekly health screenings at the center, and often those screenings showed that individuals needed a medical appointment. The pod can now provide these appointments onsite.
Help for navigating the complexity of health care
Anyone can use the pod at Salem, but appointments are not necessarily free. Medical insurance is required to interface with a medical professional, and Aetna staff said fees will vary based on each individual’s insurance and the type of appointment they need.
To help neighbors navigate their insurance costs, or walk through medical insurance options, community health workers will be stationed at Salem during operating hours. They also will act as tech support for the pod appointments.
“Sometimes, too, you have to think about computer literacy,” says Simone Simon, Aetna head of community activation. “That’s another obstacle, and people don’t often want to talk about that.”
What Aetna hopes will come of the partnership are an “improvement in overall health and well-being of South Dallas, better outcomes around mental health and chronic illness, and a more medically literate population,” Carter says. Patients will be surveyed as part of the pilot “so that we do know what has been addressed, and what we have been able to find solutions for,” she says.
Simon says she also hopes the initiative “says something to the community that’s not probably measured in numbers — that we are committed to them.”
The South Dallas Fair Park Faith Coalition wants to communicate this message from churches as well.
“One of the things I always say is that the church has to be the lighthouse. We’ve got to be the light on the hill,” says coalition leader Cynthia Wallace. “While we know scripture and we know the word of God, which is so important, the other part of it is, we’ve got to know how people live every day. We’ve got to address things that are so important to how people survive every day, and health care is part of that.”
“You’ve got to have answers,” Wallace says, “and this is an answer.”
Neighborhood Connect Telehealth Initiative
Where: Salem Institutional Baptist Church, 3918 Crozier, 75215
When: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Who: Anyone; the cost for telehealth pod appointments is determined by an individual’s medical insurance or by the CVS MinuteClinic Virtual Care out-of-pocket cost ranges, which are $79-$99 for most medical issues and $89-$129 for mental health visits.
More info: Call Salem Institutional Baptist Church at 214.428.3797 or visit SIBCDallas.com.
What else: Community health workers will be at Salem during operating hours to help people navigate appointments, pod use, insurance options and other health needs. They also will host monthly engagement sessions on select Saturdays at Salem, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. The first one is this Saturday, July 27, and the second is Aug. 24.