New Collaboration Empowers Women to Take Control of Their Health

Texas Health Resources and the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health have launched a collaboration that will leverage community involvement, education and research to empower women in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to take control of their health.

Women utilize more health care than men and make approximately 80 percent of the health care decisions for themselves and their families.

This new collaboration will not only enable women to make better health care decisions about their own health and the health of their families, but it will also enable physicians to attain special continuing medical education training in gender-specific medicine.

“We’re privileged to team up with the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health as another way to help families stay healthy,” said Douglas D. Hawthorne, FACHE, Texas Health Resources CEO. “A key to our transforming health care in North Texas for the 21st century will be identifying the needs of defined groups of people, and connecting each individual with the right service, at the right time, in the right place. Our collaboration with the Laura W. Bush Institute speaks directly to this important goal.”

The institute, headquartered in Amarillo, already has a presence in Lubbock, El Paso, Midland and San Angelo. Dallas/Fort Worth is home to 6.3 million residents, half of which are female, and is the current residence of former first lady Laura Bush and her family.

“The collaboration between Texas Health Resources and the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health is a testimonial to those who care about leading the way for healthy families,” said Laura Street, LWBIWH executive director. “We are thrilled to share the message that differences matter in research, education and community outreach so that providers are able to give individualized care."

Arlene Betancourt, M.D., will serve as the physician champion of the Texas Health Resources-LWBIWH collaboration. An internal medicine specialist based in Dallas, Betancourt has a deep interest in gender-specific aspects of practicing medicine.

“Gender differences influence the decisions that I, as a primary care physician make with my patients every day,” Betancourt said. “As a result of the collaboration between Texas Health Resources and the LWBIWH, we would like to increase physician awareness of these gender differences as well as empower every patient to make better health decisions.”

There are three main components of the collaboration:

• Community involvement: Events will be organized to educate women to be advocates for their own health by providing the latest information on research, procedures, wellness and prevention. These events will begin in May with “Advances in Medicine” seminars, which will feature leading Texas Health Resources-affiliated specialists discussing gender-specific topics based on LWBIWH research. The initial seminars will center on two topics where gender differences have a significant impact on health: vitamins and herbal supplements, and osteoporosis. Physicians at several Texas Health facilities will give presentations on these topics in cities across the metroplex including Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington and Denton. The talks are free to the public, but attendees must register in advance.
• Education: The LWBIWH is developing an online gender-specific continuing medical education course for current and future health care providers that will help them better understand how their decisions and recommendations will affect patients. Physicians who undergo this training can earn a certificate of completion from the Office of Continuing Medical Education.
• Research: Texas Health Resources and the LWBIWH will collaborate on research around female-related health issues and the impact of gender differences on health care. Visit www.TexasHealth.org/ForWomen for more information.