The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation today announced $1.5 million in grants
to provide critical health services to children in need in Central Texas. The grants will fund two new mobile health vans as well as staff and outreach efforts.

A new Children’s “Care-a-Van” affiliated with Children’s Hospital of Austin, a member of the SETON Healthcare Network, will serve children in Caldwell and Bastrop counties. The new “Theo Tooth Mobile” managed by the St. David's Foundation, with volunteer help from the Capital Area Dental Society and staffed by the City of Austin, will serve children in the Austin area.

“Michael and I started our foundation with a commitment to children and their future. Our primary focus has been to improve the health and education of children,” said Susan Dell. “We understand that in order to do well in school, children must first be healthy. We are excited to fund two projects that will bring health services directly to children who need them the most.”

The two grants will address critical gaps in children’s healthcare services. For example, 25 percent of six to eight-year-olds in AISD have untreated tooth decay. In rural counties, access to health care has been traditionally an issue. For example, in Caldwell County alone, there is only one pediatric physician serving 7,600 children.

Additionally, in all Central Texas rural counties, including Bastrop and Caldwell counties, there is a shortage of Medicaid and CHIP providers.

The St. David’s Foundation received $900,000 to fund expansion of “The Theo Project” (formerly the Central Texas Children’s Dental Health Collaborative), a public-private collaboration that provides dental health prevention, treatment and education services to thousands of uninsured children in the Austin Independent School District (AISD). Other collaborative partners include AISD, Children’s Hospital of Austin/Student Health Services, City of Austin Primary Care Department and Manos de Cristo. “The Theo Project” named for its teddy bear mascot, has screened more than 25,000 students in pre-school through eighth grade and applied more than 11,500 sealants to permanent molars to prevent decay. Students who need extractions, fillings and root canals receive treatment in “Theo’s Tooth Mobile” during visits to AISD elementary and middle schools.

The new grant from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation will fund a second dental van as well as several new program components including: on-board digital x-rays to detect early decay; the addition of case managers to facilitate parental consent for treatment and to link families with a dentist for regular visits; and a public education campaign to increase awareness of the need for early preventive dental care.

“We are so pleased and so grateful to receive this grant from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation,” said St. David’s Health Care System CEO, Neal Kocurek. “This will mean so much to the thousands of young students right here in Austin who need basic dental care.”

The SETON Healthcare Network received a $595,000 grant to launch a Children’s “Care-a-Van.” Coordinated through rural hospitals, the mobile van is a specially-outfitted recreational vehicle with two exam rooms and an immunization area offering a range of basic medical services including well-child physical exams, vision and hearing screenings, health education, immunizations, social services, counseling and provision of basic medications. In addition to providing basic medical services, the staff will work with families to help them enroll in other available health insurance programs.

The Children’s “Care-a-Van” will travel to area schools, child care centers and other locations in Caldwell and Bastrop counties. Care will be provided by a pediatric nurse practitioner, a nurse and social worker.

Approximately $100,000 of the grant will be used to complete the purchase of a mobile unit for the Highland Lakes Area.

“Access to primary health care can be an issue in rural areas, particularly for families with limited transportation and resources,” said Neal Kelley, SETON vice president and administrator of Seton Edgar B. Davis in Luling. “The “Care-a-Van” will go to where the children are and provide a high level of care to those who need preventive and primary health care in Caldwell and Bastrop counties. The “Care-a-Van” will assure that the community’s pediatric health care needs will be met.”

In 1995, Children’s Hospital of Austin created a similar mobile van named the “Skippy Express.” Through the Austin Independent School District and Round Rock Independent School District, the Skippy Mobile Health Team offers medical services to urban-area children who do not have health insurance. Services are delivered at either fixed school-based clinics or on a mobile clinic and include: sports physicals, well child exams, Medicaid Texas Health Steps exams, treatment of minor childhood illnesses, vaccines and social services. In addition, the AISD school health program and the “Skippy Express” have both contributed to AISD reaching a 90 percent immunization rate."