As it nears its one-year anniversary, the Texas Health Community Resource Center in Allen has expanded its services and hours.
The center, which offers a six-month program with medical care and support for eligible Collin County residents with chronic conditions, opened in May 2025.
The setup
The resource center, located at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Allen, is an initiative of the Texas Health Community Hope program and is funded through the Texas Health Resources Foundation. More than 129 enrolled clients have been served, and more than 460 visits have been logged since the center’s opening, according to a Texas Health news release.
In addition to medical care, the program also offers clients access to education on chronic health conditions, nutrition counseling and support groups. Participants can also access the center’s on-site Good For You Healthy Hub food pantry, which has distributed over 3,700 pounds of fresh produce since opening.
Eligibility requirements to access services at the center include:
- Being a Collin County resident
- Being between ages 18-64
- Having a diagnosis for specific chronic conditions, including congestive heart failure, diabetes, high cholesterol or high blood pressure
- Making less than or equal to 250% of the federal poverty level or meeting Texas Health’s charity care guidelines
- Lacking health insurance or having insurance with a high deductible
What’s new
The Texas Health Community Resource Center now offers evening hours each Wednesday, operating from noon to 8 p.m., in an effort to provide flexibility for clients who work during daytime hours, the release states. Clients are also now able to access nutrition counseling via telehealth in addition to group classes.
“As we started to survey our patients, we realized those that do work, they need evening hours to be able to come in,” said Monalisa Daniels, who manages the Texas Health Community Resource Center. “We've started with an expansion of Wednesday ... It is our hottest and best day. We are fully packed on Wednesdays.”
Through a partnership with the American Heart Association, the center’s new services include offering digital weight scales, blood pressure monitors and pill organizers for clients to support self-monitoring, the release states.
“These tools support self-monitoring, encourage accountability and help our providers review progress during monthly visits,” Daniels said. “Patients also appreciate having on-site lab work at both the start and end of the six-month program, because it allows them to see and track measurable changes in their health.”
Other enhancements at the center include incorporating a new education curriculum focused on six pillars of health: nutrition, physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substances and social connection. The curriculum from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine builds on the focus on the six pillars of health already used at the center, Daniels said.
Diving in deeper
Daniels said the goal of the program is to serve as a bridge for clients, offering education and empowering them, and then later placing them in a long-term “medical home”.
Five clients have “graduated” from the program, Daniels said, and nearly 15 more are expected to graduate soon. The center has seen health outcome improvements, including a 28% decrease in A1C levels and an 18% decrease in blood pressure levels, she said.
“The patients feel good,” Daniels said. “They lose a little bit of weight, their A1C drops, or their blood pressure improves, and they feel good and they get really excited.”
Kari Moon, a client of the Texas Health Community Resource Center, said the center supported her when her lack of insurance prevented her from taking medications for autoimmune disorders.
“If it wasn’t for this program, I would have either been back in [the emergency room] again or I wouldn’t be here right now. These people saved my life,” Moon said in the release. “I was able to continue getting medications, and the way they have treated me is just incredible. Programs like this are needed for people like me.”
Also of note
Staff at the resource center are now leading monthly health-focused group walks.
The walks will support social connectedness, which is a need identified in the Texas Health Resources 2025 Community Health Needs Assessment, Daniels said. Each walk will begin with a brief discussion on a health topic, followed by a self-paced 1-mile walk.
“As a team, we really talked about, ‘What can we do to help our patients and even the hospital patients that are not part of our program?’ and so we decided to do a walk with us,” Daniels said.
The group walks, which are open to the public, will be held monthly on a Saturday morning at 8 a.m. at Suncreek Park in Allen, located at 601 Alma Drive. The next walks are scheduled for June 6, July 11 and August 1.
Looking ahead
Daniels said she is looking to form partnerships with local pharmacies or medication manufacturers to offer low- or no-cost medications prescribed for clients at the center.
A wishlist item for the center is a culinary kitchen, Daniels said, which would support the center’s nutrition education in teaching clients to cook using fresh produce.
To learn more about the center or find out if you qualify, visit the center's website.
“If you feel like you even meet part of the criteria, reach out,” Daniel said. “Don’t be shy, let us screen you on the phone or come in in-person, and if we can't help you, you will be given resources of where to go. You won't be turned away empty-handed.”
