It has been a privilege and an honor the have served as president of Julia’s Center for the past three plus years and to have worked with you, previous board members, volunteers, and of course, our patients.

These past three years while president have been years of unpreceded times of the world with the waxing and waning of the pandemic to the continuance of variable strains of the SARS virus. But we managed. We managed to take care of our patients during the pandemic by calling every patient who was scheduled for that week to inquire how they were doing, to refill medications, and to distribute insulin.

Most importantly, it was a time for advancing and strengthening the internal processes of the clinic to move Julia’s Center forward. In 2020, we were still doing paper charting, but on September 10th we had ATHENA in place and initiated incorporating the electronic health record. This has been a very successful and efficient change.

The introduction of technology for appointments and appointment reminders enhanced communication with the patients via calls and texting. This was made possible by the front desk personnel Rogelio, and Chris who worked as intermediates. They report that our patients “are very thankful for the service and flexibility on our behalf which facilitates their time and work schedule”. Moreover, with the addition of and ingenuity of the UT Dallas and University of Noth Texas students/volunteers, the clinic also expanded its social media presence. We already had a website in place, then added Facebook and Instagram. We went from paper scheduling of volunteers to online scheduling, as well as implementing a QR code to record volunteer hours.

The clinic’s volunteer base increased with medical assistants and scribes. A formalized volunteer orientation was established, and a Nurse Team was formed where issues were discussed and policies and procedures were developed. Additionally, grants were obtained that bolstered not only our financial base but our services to our patients for medications, labs, and teaching aids such as food and diabetic foot models.

The boldest undertaking was the FTCA/TORT. The application for the FTCA/TORT was debated, defeated, but initiated in 2021 out of the necessity to keep and attract providers. In October 2022, the initial application was filed, and the clinic was initially deemed in May 2023. In October 2023, the re-deeming application for 2024 was filed, and in November, the FTCA/TORT was awarded to Julia’s Center for 2024.

These past three years crystallized the clinic’s internal processes for advancement. The clinic is in a sound position to develop further by building on these accomplishments. In times, when there were doubts, GOD always winked at us and we prevailed.
I am thankful for all your time, efforts, talents, and tenacity in strengthening Julia’s Center for Healthcare. With that, we move forward, and I wish the incoming board and advisory board every success and many blessings.

All the best,
Barbara Devitt