Mary Maffei, R.N., P.N.P., checks Angel Juarez’s heartbeat while his mother, Hilda Juarez, entertains him with a ball.
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SAN ANTONIO (Nov. 5, 2007) ― Young children enrolled in programs of Avance-San Antonio will have the opportunity to receive free medical care through a new Community Outreach Clinic staffed by nurses and nursing students from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Nursing.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Monday, Nov. 5, at the clinic, 2642 Castroville Road.

Clinic open on Tuesdays for children enrolled in Avance-San Antonio programs
Initially, the clinic will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays, staffed by Mary Maffei, R.N., P.N.P., coordinator of the pediatric nurse practitioner program in the School of Nursing. In addition, undergraduate nursing students and nurse practitioner master’s degree students will have the opportunity to practice their skills at the clinic, under the supervision of UT Health Science Center faculty members.

Avance-San Antonio offers programs for young children and their parents
Avance-San Antonio, the local chapter of the nationally recognized nonprofit parent-child education organization AVANCE Inc., provides a variety of parenting education and support programs to low-income families to help them enhance their parenting skills, nurture their children and improve their lives. Among the services offered are prenatal support, parenting education, early childhood education for children from birth to age 3, health and nutrition services, social service assistance and parent leadership/involvement activities.

Clinic to offer well-baby checkups and developmental assessments
“The services we will provide at the Community Outreach Clinic are for babies and for children under the age of 3,” explained Kay Avant, R.N., Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Family Nursing and holder of the Roger L. and Laura D. Zeller Charitable Foundation Professorship. “Many of the families who receive services through Avance-San Antonio are low income, do not speak English or are recent immigrants, so they are often distrustful or do not know how to navigate the traditional health care system. This will be a safe provider that they know and trust,” she said.

Nurse Practitioner Mary Maffei gives a developmental assessment to Alan Alvarez at the Community Outreach Clinic.

The clinic will offer well-baby checkups and developmental assessments. “We hope that, over time and when more funding becomes available, we will be able to expand the staff and days of the week that we are open and eventually be able to provide services for the whole family,” Avant explained.

“The biggest value of the Community Outreach Clinic for the families and children will be the accessibility to these services where they already have a relationship and foundation of trust,” said Rebecca Cervantez, executive director of Avance-San Antonio.

Sylvia Enriquez, chair of the Avance-San Antonio Board of Directors, added, “I grew up in this community myself and came to the center many years ago with my grandmother. It means a lot to these parents and children to get these services. Families in this community will feel more assured, since the services are coming to them, that they will be taken care of and they will be more likely to take advantage of them.”

Avance board member Louise Beldon was recognized for her role in forging partnerships among several organizations to fund the clinic. Among them were the Kymberly and George Rapier III Charitable Trust, the UT Health Science Center’s Nursing Advisory Council, the Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio and St. Luke’s Lutheran Health Ministry.

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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $536 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $15.3 billion biosciences and health care industry, the leading sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $35 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 22,000 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and allied health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, allied health, dentistry and many other fields.