Parkland previews 2025 community health needs assessment; cites mental health, access gaps for Dallas seniors

Parkland Health gave the Dallas Senior Affairs Commission a preview of its 2025 Community Health Needs Assessment on issues affecting older adults, saying the report — required every three years under the Affordable Care Act — will be finalized after board review and production later this year.

"We are required to define the community we serve, which in Parkland's case, it's very simple as we only serve Dallas County," said Teresita Oates, a Parkland Health official who presented the draft findings and methods. Oates described a mixed quantitative and qualitative methodology that includes federal and state public‑health data sets, Parkland clinical registries and more than two dozen focus groups.

Why it matters: Parkland told commissioners the preliminary analysis shows concentrated disparities — higher uninsured rates, fewer primary care providers and higher area deprivation — in parts of southeast Dallas and the south side of I‑30. Those geographic disparities translate to wide differences in life expectancy: one ZIP code shown in Parkland's analysis had a life expectancy near 90 years while another five miles away was about 68, a gap the presenter said was 22 years.

Parkland said the assessment is still in progress and that the final report will be presented to its board before public release; Oates said production and board review push the expected public release into late December. She said Parkland has collected ‘‘more than 2,000 responses’’ to an online survey and has held roughly 30 focus groups to supplement administrative data.

The presentation highlighted several recurring findings relevant to seniors: increases in reported poor mental health among people 65 and older; persistent burdens from chronic disease (heart disease and cancer remain leading causes of death); and clusters of social needs tied to transportation, food access and mortgage forbearance in certain ZIP codes. Oates said Parkland’s internal registries show multiple chronic conditions (for example, combinations of diabetes, hypertension and obesity) are common among older patients.

Parkland described programs that target older adults, including a central geriatrics outpatient location, six additional geriatric service sites, a senior house calls program for homebound patients and a senior outreach program funded by the Texas Department of State Health Services that includes transportation in selected ZIP codes. Oates said some ZIP codes that the CHNA flags for intensified outreach also show high rates of households without vehicles, amplifying access barriers.

Commissioners pressed for detail on geographic coverage and service placement. Debbie Austin, commissioner for District 8, raised specific ZIP‑code questions and asked why some areas near existing clinics did not appear to be included in Parkland’s targeted ZIP list. Austin also argued for stronger representation from residents of lower‑income neighborhoods when Parkland and city committees make program decisions. "If you don't live in the community that you're representing, you don't know what the challenges are for that community," she said.

Parkland responded that its community relations team and a network of community health workers are explicitly used to reach hard‑to‑access populations; Oates said Parkland hires community health workers from the communities they serve and partners with county public‑health staff, faith organizations, food banks and community‑based groups to run smaller, locally based events and hubs that offer screenings, linkage to care and, in some locations, virtual‑care booths.

Parkland also discussed analytic limitations: Oates said some measures such as updated life‑expectancy estimates face data lags and additional coordination with county analysts. She referenced national and state work on diabetes and mental‑health trends — for example, literature cited by Parkland pointing to a worsening national diabetes burden — as context for local forecasts.

The commission and Parkland agreed Parkland will provide links and the final report when complete; Oates said the implementation plan that accompanies the CHNA will identify activities and metrics Parkland will use to track progress.

The commission did not take a formal vote on the CHNA presentation; commissioners requested the final report and supporting data be distributed to the full commission when available.