Parkland outlines geriatrics outreach, house calls and transport limits for South Dallas

Shafon Kinnehan, an RN case manager in Parkland Health’s Department of Geriatrics, told the Dallas Senior Affairs Commission on March 17 that Parkland operates a senior outreach grant (called SOS) that funds home visits, a single van for nonemergency rides and community education focused on South and Southeast Dallas.

Kinnehan said the SOS grant is funded by the Texas Department of Health and Human Services and provides roughly $151,000 a year, covering Kinnehan’s position and a driver. The grant began in 2005 and was initially larger; Kinnehan said funding has declined over time from several hundred thousand dollars to the current level.

The program’s services include high-risk case management and home-safety assessments, a van that provides about 800 rides per year to medical and nonmedical appointments, community education and a house-call program for homebound patients. Kinnehan said the house-call program will see patients who live within roughly a 22-mile radius of Parkland and who meet clinical homebound criteria; the house-call service is separate from the SOS grant and is operated under Parkland’s clinical programs.

Kinnehan described the SOS home visits as nonemergency: "SOS is not a house-pulse program. I don't do anything medical in the home, even though I'm a registered nurse, unless there's an emergency. I can do a blood pressure," she said. She added she typically responds within days and that doctors sometimes request an urgent home assessment.

Why it matters: Kinnehan said South and Southeast Dallas still show the highest rates of chronic disease in Parkland’s community-health data, and that transportation, technology and financial challenges are common barriers to care. She said social-determinants screening (questions about transportation, housing, food and utilities) informs many referrals.

Program and resource details shared at the meeting:

- Funding and scale: SOS funding is approximately $151,000 per year and supports one case manager and a driver; Kinnehan said the grant is rare for its longevity but much smaller today than at inception.

- Transportation: The SOS van provides roughly 800 rides annually for medical appointments and limited nonmedical trips (Social Security, pharmacy). Parkland previously operated two vans; one was decommissioned and Parkland staff said the department is seeking budget authority to replace it.

- Referrals and eligibility: Kinnehan accepts referrals for high-risk seniors (frequent clinic no-shows, falls, suspected abuse/neglect, caregiver stress) and can visit people who are not Parkland patients if they meet age and income guidelines and live in the target zip-code areas. For the SOS grant, the state requires income at or below roughly 200 percent of federal poverty guidelines (Kinnehan cited about $2,500/month as the upper limit).

- House calls and clinic-based home care: Parkland also operates a senior house-calls program and a Center for Geriatric Care and Healthy Aging; those clinical services accept homebound patients (65+) within Parkland’s service radius and include board-certified geriatric physicians, pharmacists, dietitians and social workers.

Kinnehan emphasized practical barriers she sees in homes: low digital literacy that makes telehealth and appointment reminders unreliable, complex paperwork for benefit programs and shortages of reliable paid caregivers. She also noted a shortage of geriatric specialists and geriatric psychiatrists to meet demand.

Ending: Kinnehan described small new respite vouchers under a separate grant that will pay for a few days of paid respite for roughly 30–40 caregivers and said the department is arranging contracts with two home-care agencies to deliver the respite. Commissioners asked Parkland to present preliminary findings from the community health-needs assessment at a future meeting.