Working Across the Aisle: Texas Border Health Foundation
June 15, 2006
The Texas Border region copes with many health-related challenges that other Texans do not face. With this in mind, Senator Shapleigh worked with Senator Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) to create the Texas Border Health Foundation.
Written by Senator Eliot Shapleigh, www.shapleigh.org
The Texas Border region copes with many health-related challenges that other Texans do not face, such as an extraordinarily high number of residents without health insurance, a lack of adequate funding, and poor health care infrastructure. Many Border counties also face a shortage of medical professionals and dental care, as well as high rates of chronic diseases such as diabetes and hepatitis. Therefore, special care must be taken by elected officials to ensure that increased resources are focused on eliminating the health care disparities that exist across the 43 Border counties.
With this in mind, in the 78th Legislative Session, Senator Shapleigh worked in a bipartisan effort with Senator Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) to create the Texas Border Health Foundation. The Foundation was created to serve as the main organization in charge of receiving and distributing both private and public funds aimed at battling health-related problems faced throughout the Border region.
According to the Foundation's mission statement, the organization focuses its efforts in three critical areas of need: (1) Public Health Leadership, (2) Children’s Health, and (3) Elimination of Health Disparities. Indeed, its most recent project involves providing fiscal oversight for a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant targeted at reducing tuberculosis outbreaks along the Border.
The Foundation's five member Board of Directors is currently made up of leaders from El Paso, Harlingen, Corpus Christi, Laredo, and San Antonio, thus representing a wide cross-section of the Border region and bringing extensive knowledge and experience in Border health issues.
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