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CommuniCare Health Foundation is hosting what it hopes to be a first in an annual tradition on Tuesday, July 30 from 11:30 a.m. -1 p.m. at the San Marcos Rec Hall, with the Fundraising Fashion Show Luncheon.
“This is our first time to host a fashion show in Hays County so we’re excited to kick this off as hopefully an annual event,” CommuniCare Chief Development Officer Marisol P. Cortez said.
CommuniCare is a 501c3 nonprofit community health center that provides family medicine, pediatrics, women's health, dental, behavioral health and vision care services to thousands of uninsured and underinsured residents in Bexar, Hays and Kendall counties on an annual basis.
The first CommuniCare campus opened in 1972 as the Barrio Comprehensive Family Health Care Center (BCFHCC) in San Antonio. Concerned about a number of deaths due to a preventable diphtheria epidemic, Sister Dolores Girault played an important role in the founding of the center, which it first service delivery site was a two-room pediatric clinic in the back of a San Antonio west side church. In 1980, it became the first Federally Qualified Health Center in the San Antonio area. And since then, it has expanded to several communities in Central Texas, including three centers in Hays County.
CommuniCare Health Centers opened its first Hays County location in San Marcos, at 1941 S. Interstate 35, in February of 2009, and served approximately 4,000 patients in its first year of operations. The San Marcos location provides primary care, behavioral health services and preventive health care services.
The Kyle CommuniCare Health Center, at 2810 Dacy Lane, opened for patient care in October 2010 and offers family medicine, pediatrics, women’s health, dental and behavioral health care. CommuniCare expanded its services in Hays County in 2015, in conjunction with Seton Family of Doctors, and opened the Wimberley clinic, at 203 Stillwater Road, Ste. 6, that offers pediatric services.
CommuniCare Health Centers serves more than 63,000 — with approximately 30,000 children patients — each year with the overarching objective to provide access to all residents of the area, to help community residents improve their health status, their health outcomes and ultimately their quality of life.
Texas has the highest overall uninsured rate in the country, the highest rate of uninsured kids and the highest rate of uninsured women of childbearing age, according to a 2019 Georgetown University report, based on U.S. Census data. But CommuniCare helps to fill those gaps, according to Cortez, who said they served 7,860 patients under the age of 18 in Hays County — and 15,073 patients overall — according to 2018 data.
“I don’t know where a lot of these patients would go if it wasn’t for CommuniCare Health Centers,” Cortez said.
Proceeds raised at the Fundraising Fashion Show Luncheon will go toward CommuniCare's health programs and all sponsorships and donations are tax-deductible.
Tickets to the fundraiser include a sit-down lunch catered by Spice of Life as well as a showcase of summer fashions provided by Chico’s Outlet, Two P’s & Calli’s and KnD’s. Leslie Bohl, one of San Antonio's most recognized TV anchors and journalists, will be the emcee of the fashion show.
Sponsorships and individual tickets are available but limited. Individual tickets are $35 each in advance and will increase to $40 at the door the day of the event. For more information or to purchase a ticket or sponsorship, go to CommuniCare's website.
