Project: The Denver Harbor/Port Houston Clinic
Organization: Houston Community Health Centers, Inc.
Houston, TX
Story submitted by Daniel Montez, CEO/CFO

In Mysterious Ways:
The Story of the Creation of Denver Harbor Health Clinic

On the Web site entitled “A People’s Guide to Houston,” University of Houston student Albert Anthony Carmona writes at length about the Denver Harbor area of Houston’s East Side, north of Interstate 10. At the end of his page, he provides helpful hints, including Web links to Blood Gangs and Marijuana, for visitors wanting related information.

The links give a Web surfer pause.

Make no mistake: Denver Harbor is not where Houstonians go for sushi or Starbuck’s. It’s an older, predominately Hispanic, low-income community that shares its name with one of the city’s most feared street gangs, where the library went without a roof for three years, cars and trucks have often decorated front lawns, and homeland security has meant weapons, fences and burglar bars.

But Denver Harbor is also a community with an abundance of cultural dignity –“Everyone knows Hispanics have a lot of pride,” writes Carmona -- and one that today has aspirations of a safer, brighter tomorrow. These dreams can be seen taking shape in new, wider streets, a park, a community center – and the Denver Harbor Health Clinic.
So for now, Denver Harbor is a community of contrasts. The author of the People’s Guide calls this his hood. The organizers of HCHC see it as God’s vineyard. The 6,500- square-foot health clinic, a creation of Houston Community Health Centers, Inc. (HCHC), suggests you can count on an abundant harvest.

A Story of Faith in Action
The story of the clinic is nothing short of proverbial. But this particular proverb has a twist. It suggests that though you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, you can come surprising close. And, close might be what’s needed for faith-filled people to alter what’s predictable for thousands of long-overlooked Houstonians, young and old.

To say that HCHC has changed the face of the neighborhood is an understatement of the most flagrant variety. The clinic opened in November 2004 in a transformed cantina, Mikayela’s Sports Bar, ill-famed for its undocumented ownership, late-night traffic and violence.
The opening was the capstone to activities begun in 1998, when local pastors and Daniel Montez, CEO, HCHC, began meeting to discuss community needs. The church leaders determined that the most immediate problem was lack of access to medical care. The next year the coalition established Houston Community Health Centers, or HCHC, and launched a campaign of planning, praying and fund-raising.

Defining Years for HCHC
Less than two years after establishing HCHC, the clinic opened one day a week in the second-floor Sunday school rooms of Denver Harbor’s La Roca Pentecostal Church and within a year operating hours had increased to two days a week. Behind the scenes indefatigable organizers labored virtually 24/7 to realize their hope for a forty hour a week dedicated clinic outside the church.

The years 2003 and 2004 constituted a watershed period for the organization. Supported by a blend of local energy and private grant makers that included the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, clinic CEO Montez and his team began operating 40 hours a week effective October 1, 2003, offering health and medical services as well as enabling services for children and adults. Clinic visits rose predictably -- one nurse practitioner and two medical assistants saw 900 patients in the cramped Sunday school rooms in 2003 -- and soon demanded additional staffing and space.

The same year, thankfully, the organizers’ vision drew closer to reality, when Houston’s Frees Foundation underwrote the purchase of the 12,000 sq. ft. lot (and cantina) at 424 Hahlo Street. Vital monies for capital improvements came in from local foundations as well as other generous funders.

“God is calling my name.”
The aforementioned events notwithstanding, 2004’s highlight was the formal opening of Denver Harbor Health Clinic on November 19. Completely remodeled, the former cantina, unrecognizable to even the most familiar eyes, now houses a diagnostic laboratory, pharmacy, medical treatment rooms and offices, and offers immunizations, mental health and substance abuse counseling, hearing and vision screenings, check-ups for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, nutrition education and interpretation services.

In its new home, appropriately equipped and staffed, the clinic staff provided an average of 350 medical encounters each month during the first six months of 2005. Things are changing in Denver Harbor. But no one here is resting on his laurels. “So much remains to be done,” says Montez. “For all of our efforts, many needs still go unmet. To minister to the health of the people of this community, we need to strengthen our outreach and add to our facilities and staff.”

No one familiar with Montez and the people around him can imagine that HCHC will fail in its campaign to grow and address the needs of the community. They are empowered not only by a shared vision, but also by a devotion to service that neighbors view as heaven sent. At the clinic’s dedication, Pastor Robert Martinez of La Roca Pentecostal Church, paused to observe: “God works in mysterious ways.”

Indeed, and God has many laborers in the vineyard called Denver Harbor.

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