Community Care

Showing our support and gratitude to the community is an important part of our hospital's mission and identity as an institution built on Christian ideals. As one of the largest employers in the area, we feel our responsibility as leaders is to share our passion for helping others, not only within our doors but also in the community. Our staff members have the drive and desire to go above and beyond, by doing extra for others, and taking part in unique activities that make a difference. We take great pride in helping the people in the community as well as caring for the patients at our hospital.

Using preventive medicine, we work with our local community to fight heart and vascular diseases. From screenings to free educational classes, we offer support before, during, and after procedures. For example:

• We offer calcium score screening, which is a non-invasive CT scan to help determine the extent of your heart and vessel disease;
• We coordinate disease prevention and wellness programs including:
  • Caring Hearts®, where previous patients volunteer to visit current patients
  • Leap For Life®, which uses proven behavior modification techniques to achieve better health
  • Wired for Life, which pairs past implantable cardio defibrillator (ICD) recipients with future recipients to lend support and comfort and provide answers to their questions
  • Heart Well Forum, where heart and vascular patients and their families assemble for a hearth-healthy lunch and hear a Baylor physician or other health care educator speak on a variety of topics related to heart and vascular disease;
• We conduct classes, events and educational programs such as "The Lowdown on High Blood Pressure," aimed at helping you lead a more heart-healthy lifestyle.

Our hospital and team members are active with many charitable organizations and events throughout the community. Some of these include:

• Volunteering at the Austin Street homeless shelter, which includes clothing drives, food drives, and providing lunch or dinner for the shelter. Austin Street exists to provide emergency shelter and related services to the homeless in a compassionate environment;
• Raising money and awareness for the American Heart Association, including participating in the annual Heart Walk, which is a fun-filled, non-competitive three-mile walk through downtown Dallas;
• Participating in the Adopt-A-Family program, which involves adopting a needy family every Holiday Season. We take donations from employees and physicians and personally deliver gifts and food to their home;
• Sponsoring the Empty Bowls program, where guests choose a homemade bowl to enjoy a meal and keep as a reminder that there are always empty bowls in the world. Donations are encouraged and then sent to a worthy hunger organization (North Texas Food Bank);
• Supporting the United Way, which addresses many welfare issues facing Americans;
• Coordinating community talks on topics such as atrial fibrillation, women and heart disease, and know your heart health numbers;
• Sponsoring health fairs such as "For Women For Life" women's health fair; "It's a Guy Thing" men's health fair, and "Viva Dallas" Hispanic health fair.

We encourage everyone to get involved with these worthwhile causes. Please ask one of our staff members how to take the first step.