VA North Texas begins construction on new clinic

The VA North Texas Health Care System broke ground last week on a new clinic in Tarrant County that when functional in 2010 will be the largest Department of Veterans Affairs leased outpatient clinic in the nation.

Currently, there is a clinic in Fort Worth on East Rosedale Street that serves veterans and a large VA hospital in Dallas. The clinic opened in 1992 and serves 16 North Texas counties, and the new clinic is intended to be large enough to handle the increasing patient load. The VA will lease the 239,000-square-foot facility from a private company, and staff and services will be expanded. Radiology, primary care, mental health, dental, ophthalmology and optometry, audiology and speech pathology, orthopedics, podiatry, rheumatology, non-sedative surgery, gastrointestinal, physical therapy, pharmacy, laboratory, EKG, social work and home based care will be expanded; proposed additional services include a women’s clinic, cardiology, endoscopy, dermatology, pulmonary, endocrinology, prosthetics and methadone.

UTA receives grant from Intel

Researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington received a grant of about $60,000 from Intel Corp., the computer component developer and manufacturer, to help develop a wearable neurostimulation device that can help patients manage chronic pain and conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.

The grant, which required recommendation and sponsorship from an Intel employee, will hopefully be the beginning of a longer relationship to foster research.

Electrical engineering professor Jung-Chih Chiao and psychology associate professor Yuan-Bo Peng are developing an integrated, low-power, wireless body networking system and have been supported by the National Science Foundation to focus on neurostimulation to block pain signals in the brain. This project extension will include collaboration with researchers at Intel’s Beaverton, Ore., facility and was issued through Intel’s University Research Program.

Care N’ Care begins in January 2009

North Texas Specialty Physicians, a 13-year-old independent physician association based in Fort Worth of more than 600 specialty and family practice physicians, announced that it will begin offering services of its new Medicare-preferred provider organization Care N’ Care on Jan.1, 2009.

The new PPO is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NTSP and will be the only local-physician sponsored and supported Medicare PPO plan for Tarrant County residents. The PPO has met all state and federal licensing and regulatory approvals and is marketing its services to the Tarrant County Medicare population with new member enrollment that began Nov. 15. County residents who are eligible for Medicare can find out more information by calling 817-810-5213 or by visiting http://www.cnchealthplan.com./

Kroger gives check to Cook Children’s

Kroger Food Stores presented Cook Children’s Health Foundation and Children’s Medical Center each a $10,000 check on Nov. 13 as a result of the in-store “Get Healthy, Give Hope” Produce for Kids spring campaign.

The event, which took place at a Kroger Food Store in Arlington, recognized the corporate partnership between the Children’s Miracle Network and Kroger since 1995. Over that time period, $15 million has been raised for the network, which includes each of the North Texas hospitals, to pay for equipment, charity care and research.

Produce for Kids is an organization that promotes healthy eating and supports causes for children, and the initiative this year raised funds as well as encouraged parents to add more fruits and vegetables to their children’s diets. Produce for Kids started in 2002 and has a spring and fall national campaign.

ebassett@bizpress.net