HUD Homes and Communities: Vega Place – The ‘Good Old Days’ Are Back for Fort Worth Seniors
Remember the good old days when doctors often made house calls? Well, for some residents of Fort Worth’s Vega Place Senior Apartments, the good old days are back. Through a program called House Calls, doctors and nurse practitioners are visiting many of the 104 residents at Vega Place, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) subsidized apartment community for senior citizens and people with disabilities. Primary medical services can now be offered in the convenience of the patient’s home.
After being awarded a three-year Service Coordination Grant from HUD totaling $176,000, Ja’net Huling, then Vega Place property manager, began considering better ways to meet the medical needs of residents who were often unable to visit their doctors regularly. After becoming the service coordinator for Vega Place, she formed a unique partnership with a local health care provider, Health Essentials Solutions, Inc., and literally brought the House Calls program in-house. Approximately 90 percent of residents at Vega Place qualify for House Calls.