Health care is the largest employment sector in the US, and women account for 75-percent of the workforce. Gender equity in medical leadership is of paramount importance in value-based care to provide more meaningful and culturally-competent care with improved relational and clinical outcomes between patients and providers. Despite a female majority in the healthcare workforce, they are not proportionally represented within top leadership positions, where they account for less than 15-percent of executives. While women account for just over half of all medical school enrollments, they have consistently graduated from medical school at rates below their male colleagues, although that gap has narrowed in recent years. Further, only 18-percent of hospital CEOs are women.

Our special guest for this bonus episode is Dr. Charlotte Collins, Division Chief for The Center for Professionalism and Well-Being at Geisinger. Her work focuses on the provider experience to improve engagement, recruitment, retention, and communication, while benefitting patient care and experience, and reducing the risk for medical errors. The Center promotes cultural goals such as transparency, decentralized decision-making, and continuous quality improvement for the organization. In 2020, the National Business Group on Health awarded Geisinger with the platinum Best Employers: Excellence in Health & Well-Being Award for supporting the “enhancement and maintenance of personal and professional well-being” for staff.

In this episode, Dr. Collins shares insights garnered from her efforts to better understand women’s needs in the health care workforce. During this time of consistent burnout among clinicians, and heightened awareness of the need for improved equity, it is critical to recognize the opportunity for women to take a more prominent role in leading value-based care transformation. This discussion will provide you with important insights on gender and pay equity, creating a female-friendly workplace, empowerment, and workforce resiliency. The value proposition of gender equity in leadership is crucial in the transition to whole-person care models that deliver on improved population health outcomes.

This bonus episode is a recording of an ACLC Peer Learning Session – watch here if you would like to see Dr. Collins’ slides and hear the full audio.

Episode Bookmarks:

01:40 Referencing the ACLC Intelligence Brief on Women in Medicine and Introduction to Dr. Charlotte Collins

04:00 Kimberly Mueller explains the purpose of the ACLC in accelerating the transition to value-based care

05:00 Recent efforts in healthcare to support the advancement of DEI and Dr. Collins work at Geisinger

07:20 75% of the healthcare workforce is female, but there is an imbalance between men and women in leadership roles

08:30 The role that women leaders play in value-based care and how more women in medical leadership could improve clinical outcomes

09:30 The three pillars of Geisinger that inform population health and how the pandemic has impacted that work

10:15 The exodus of the healthcare workforce due to burnout and retirement, coupled with nursing shortages, has created a crisis

11:15 The development of the Geisinger Center for Professionalism and Well-Being and how it supports women in medicine

13:00 Overview of Geisinger’s survey on women-centered medicine and clinical practice

17:45 How patients have potentially been impacted by sexual harassment, and the opportunities to address burnout and workplace fairness

19:30 Pay equity and transparency within the workforce and the creation of a “female-friendly workplace”

21:10 Addressing workforce policies that disproportionately impact women

22:10 The choice that women face in being a “good Mom” or a professional in the workplace

24:00 Geisinger’s program to support workforce resiliency and emotional well-being (RISE – Resilience in Stressful Events)

29:00 Emergent design and the “bottom-up approach” to developing programs that foster ideas from front-line staff

32:00 How women and men can bind together and support their colleagues to advocate for more gender equity

36:00 The power of an organizational competency and scorecard for Equity (“you can’t manage what you don’t measure”)

37:30 Dr. Collins provides advice to other women who are looking to advance in their careers by being proactive and taking risks

40:20 Dr. Collins shares her thoughts on the presence of ‘imposter syndrome’ with women in medicine

42:00 Why “women leaders are better listeners” and  how we need to foster collaboration and autonomy in the female physician workforce

45:30 The importance of scoring priorities in workforce resiliency and gender equity-related programs (e.g. child care options for workers)

48:00 The most important workforce benefit is work-life balance (not compensation!)

We’re excited to share this special edition episode with Dr. Tony Dale, an “Old World” doctor from England who has since become a successful healthcare entrepreneur in the United States.  Despite practicing socialized medicine early in his medical career, Dr. Dale has become a champion for free market reforms to our nation’s healthcare system.  As the founder and Chairman of The Karis Group and Sedera, he has brought cost transparency and consumerism to the forefront.  Dr. Dale’s entrepreneurial vision has directly impacted the lives of millions of patients seeking the best possible care at fair and affordable prices. In this podcast conversation, we discussed his newest book “The Cure For Healthcare: An Old World Doctor’s Prescription for the New World Health System”. This episode was recorded in collaboration with the Point Health podcast and its hosts Steven Cutbirth.

Episode Bookmarks:

01:20 Intro to Dr. Tony Dale — from practicing family medicine in London to his work as an American healthcare entrepreneur dedicated to affordable care

02:30 Early experiences with his father, a family doctor in Taiwan, who led him into a career in medicine

04:30 What Dr. Dale learned from his work as a physician in the UK’s NHS within a socialized model of medicine caring for the poor

06:30 Access to care in a socialized model does not necessarily mean access to quality

07:30 Seeing 40-60 patients per day, on top of doing home visits, led to bad medicine

08:15 Relocation to the United States with an inspiration to help doctors treat the “whole person” in a holistic way

10:00 How the British system prevented family medicine doctors from helping their patients who were hospitalized

10:45 Dr. Tony Dale’s new book, The Cure for Healthcare

11:10 Inspiration from “The Price We Pay” by Dr. Marty Makary

12:00 Fascinating examples of the “power of the free market” from his work with Sedera to provide medical cost sharing

12:45 Dr. Dale’s experience in influencing health policy and how that convinced him that a grassroots effort is really the true cure for healthcare

13:45 Albert Einstein’s famous maxim, “The thinking that got us to where we are is not the thinking that will get us to where we want to be”

14:30  The issues of waste, inefficiency, and outright fraud — how current health policies enrich the very few, at the expense of the “ordinary American”

16:30 “The answer to changing the system isn’t incremental.  It is dramatic.”

16:40 Parallels to the disruption of the transportation system from Uber/Lyft (ridesharing) and Priceline (airline and hotel booking)

17:40 How Cristen Dickerson (a radiologist in Houston) and her company Green Imaging is bringing “the Priceline model to Radiology”

19:30 Inspiration from radical change agents who bring a “stroke of genius” to fixing healthcare

20:30 President Obama and the passage of the Affordable Care Act that led to an exemption of Christian healthcare sharing ministries

22:45 Finding a way to make the medical sharing model (a non-insurance solution) mainstream through the founding of Sedera

25:00 The story of his founding of The Karis Group (now Point Health) to help patients shop for cash pay options for healthcare services

27:40 The exploitation of government regulations related to the Medical Loss Ratio in order to drive health insurance profits

28:30 “The system is working perfectly for what it is designed for.  It is designed to let the big hospitals consolidate and drive up prices.”

29:20 The “smoke and mirrors” tactic of  duping patients to pay more for urgent care by billing as an ER (paying 3X more for the same care!)

30:30 How a free market based on innovation and cash payment can improve the patient-provider relationship

31:40 Referencing the work of Dr. Keith Smith (Surgery Center of Oklahoma) in creating lower costs and transparent prices

32:30 The transformational potential of Direct Primary Care

34:00 Dr. Dale discusses the work of his son Matthew Dale (CEO, Point Health)

35:00 Unleashing the power of consumerism in healthcare by creating tools that enable cost-conscious shopping

37:00 Dr. Dale explains how figuring out how to get better care and easier access at a lower price will ultimately transfer wealth to the American people.

39:00 Mobilizing CEOs to “fire the healthcare system” with inspiration from Harris Rosen who saved $440M with his employer-sponsored plan

42:00 “Directing dollars into a free market ecosystem with open, fair, and transparent pricing will lead to easier access, higher quality, and dramatically lower costs.”

43:45 Single Payer vs. Free Market – Dr. Dale discusses the impact of health policy in the future

45:30 Searching for the American Dream – “The free market can show people how to thrive.”

We are pleased to release a special bonus episode and do our part to address the nation’s concerns around the pandemic and the COVID vaccine. As it stands right now, around 164 million people, or 50% of the total U.S. population, have now been fully vaccinated. Ultimately, with a large portion of the U.S. population still unvaccinated, it seems that COVID-19 is not going to disappear soon. The U.S. will continue to see outbreaks of the virus in communities with low vaccine uptake.

Our guest is Dr. Rodney Rohde, a virologist and clinical laboratory expert with 30 years of experience in Public health, virology, and zoonotic disease, and is a Professor in the College of Health Professions and Associate Director for the Texas State University Translational Health Research Center. This episode is for anyone who wants to hear a scientific discussion about SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 to combat misinformation that is out there about the pandemic.

Episode Bookmarks:

04:30 Dr. Rohde shares a brief overview of the medical laboratory profession and the Clinical Laboratory Science degree programs

08:30  The impact of the pandemic on the medical laboratory staffing crisis

09:50 Dr. Rohde speaks about the importance of laboratory medicine in improving value-based care and health equity

13:00 Did SARS-CoV-2 originate from a laboratory leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology?  Or did the virus originate from a zoonotic spillover event?

18:15 Referencing Dr. Rohde’s recent article discussing how the US is split between the vaccinated and unvaccinated – and how the deaths and hospitalizations reflect this divide

20:00 Dr. Rohde discusses how “99.5% of all the people dying from COVID-19 in the U.S. are unvaccinated” and how to understand breakthrough infections happening with the vaccinated

22:30 How to eradicate a virus and why current immunization rates will not support disease eradication

24:50 “Viruses, especially RNA viruses, are the most diabolical microbes on the planet.”

25:30 Viral mutations that create infectious variants and the opportunism of infection

28:20 The global achievement of smallpox eradication

28:50 Dr. Rohde explains vaccine efficacy and what people should ask their physicians if debating whether or not to receive the vaccine

31:00 The low of mRNA vaccines

34:00 Dr. Rohde explains what the Delta variant is and provides a scientific overview of viral mutations

37:00 The changing pathology of the virus and how younger, unvaccinated people are now being affected by the Delta variant

38:00 Booster shots for immunocompromised individuals and the likelihood of boosters for the general population

39:20 The transmissibility of the Delta variant. what the R-naught number means in understanding viral contagion, and how Delta variant compares to Ebola transmission

45:00 Referencing the COVID-19 thought leadership and insights from Scott Gottlieb, Tom Frieden, and Peter Hotez

46:20 The three-year cycle of unchecked pandemics, the development of herd immunity, and the potential for an endemic transition in 2022

47:50 The significance of the landmark scientific achievement of developing a mRNA vaccine technology (the first time in history!)

50:00 Viewing public health as part of our public defense and why we need to learn that one lesson from this pandemic!

While the health care system has been gradually transitioning to a more tech-enabled industry for several years, in a matter of months, the global pandemic has fast-tracked digital health care trends that have been primed and ready for greater investment and implementation. The increased investment in and use of technology-enabled care protocols like telehealth and remote patient monitoring during the crisis has accelerated the acceptance and adoption of digital solutions for both health care professionals and their patients. As a greater number of payers and providers adopt value-based payment arrangements and innovative data management and analytic solutions emerge, digital tools will enable the collection and analysis of robust patient data to inform population health management strategies and equip providers to creatively inform and transform their approach to care delivery.

In this episode, we share the audio from a recent webinar where we discuss the digital health landscape with two foremost experts, Dr. David Nace, Chief Medical Officer of Innovaccer, and Ed Marx, Chief Digital Officer of The HCI Group.  Additionally, we offer the recent ACLC Intelligence Brief, Overview of the Digital Health Landscape. The brief offers a detailed review of the digital health landscape, analyzing major trends and recent merger and acquisition activity, and outlines expectations for the future. The intelligence brief, combined with this episode, will give you valuable insights to inform your own race to value!

https://www.accountablecarelc.org/publications/overview-digital-health-landscape

There is an immediate opportunity for value-minded medical practices and health systems in joining a Direct Contracting Entity (DCE) that is already established.  Many of these DCEs (typically existing health care delivery organizations or newly-organized physician aggregators) are now seeking formal partnerships with providers in their area. These partnerships may facilitate an entry point for organizations who have not participated in prior CMMI models or those organizations more advanced in risk who wish to increase their value profile in a model that emphasizes beneficiary engagement and improved patient outcomes. If you have been approached to join a DCE, the ACLC wants to support you in the consideration of this opportunity.

To that end, we are pleased to share this bonus episode, with our guest Dr. Tom Davis. Dr. Davis is an expert in value-based care, a family physician, angel investor, founder of 6 companies, consultant, and speaker. In this episode, he helps simplify the decision process for the independent physician who wants to know whether they should consider participating in the GPDC model. Independent physicians now is an important time to consider your participation in value – whether you join the GPDC model or do something different, this episode will accelerate your move to value!

In addition to listening to this episode, make sure to read our blog post with additional details: https://www.accountablecarelc.org/publications/global-and-professional-direct-contracting-starter-checklist-prepare-dce-partnerships

Episode Bookmarks:

03:00 What are Direct Contracting Entities (DCEs) and how did they come about?

04:15 What types of DCEs are currently recognized by CMS and should I consider joining one?

06:45 What are the potential benefits to medical practices that are considering joining a DCE?

12:00 How is Value-Based Care innovation better addressed by DCEs than other payment models?

13:15 Is there a competitive disadvantage to not participating in a DCE?

14:30 How should an organization evaluate a prospective DCE suitor when approached to join one?

17:30 Why is joining a DCE such a rare and historic opportunity?

18:30 Parting comments and contact information for Dr. Tom Davis

We are discussing “Price Transparency and Free Market Healthcare” with Dr. Keith Smith, co-founder of Surgery Center of Oklahoma and Sean Kelley, Founder & Managing Partner of Texas Medical Management. Keith and Sean are the forefathers of price transparency as they have been providing upfront, transparent prices to patients for decades. This is one of our more controversial episodes to date, as we cover with brutal honesty, the systemically broken healthcare system that allows patient fleecing, price gouging, excessive profiteering, and limited competition to establish a market clearing price.  This provocative interview will raise important concepts such as the needs of the buyer, the importance of price transparency, and why free market principles and bundled pricing for surgical procedures are necessary.  Is there any difference between the healthcare industry and a Mexican drug cartel?  Is the value-based care movement flawed? Should the government recuse itself from any conversation having to do with health value? Tune in to find out!

This is a special joint episode between Race to Value and Point Health, released alongside the ACLC Intelligence Brief entitled “Revealing Value? Hospital Price Transparency”.  This brief can be downloaded here.

Episode Bookmarks:

02:00 Download the ACLC and Point Health Intelligence Brief entitled, “Revealing Value? Hospital Price Transparency”

02:30 Introduction to Keith Smith and Sean Kelley – the forefathers of price transparency

05:00 Dr. Smith shares the story of his founding of Surgery Center of Oklahoma – a free market ASC with fully transparent, bundled procedure pricing

06:00 The “rising terminator class of Administrators” and why Dr. Smith started seeing Medicare patients for free!

07:00 “We were accomplices to financial crimes that were devasting to patients.” (The fleecing of patients by profiteering hospitals)

09:00 Sean discusses the founding of Texas Medical Management (formerly Texas Free Market Surgery)

10:30 85% of all surgical dollars go to facilities! (Motivation to move cases out of the hospital that should be done in a surgery center)

12:00 “Really good doctors are not paid more than bad doctors.  In fact, it is often the opposite.”

13:45 Sean reflects back on the early leadership and inspiration of Dr. Keith Smith in starting TMM

14:50 “The only reason I stayed in medicine is to be a part of a solution that brings doctors and patients back into relationship models that eliminate all the BS.”

15:30 Only 25% of all healthcare dollars spent actually go to people providing care!

17:00 “Changing the way that healthcare is purchased by employers and TPAs is the most critical part of the survival of free market providers.”

18:30 Medical Tourism and how patients are travelling from all over the country (and the world) for free market surgeries!

22:30 “The healthcare system is working as it is designed – it is a cartel; there is no mistaking that.”

24:30 Dr. Smith expresses his frustration with influencing peddling in health policy and how industry consolidation is driving up prices

26:20 Self-funded buyers are demanding transparent pricing and a stop to price gouging.

27:00 “The DC regulatory machine, brokers, and consultants needed a good thumping.”

29:00 Helping other surgery center disruptors with price transparency models to build critical mass across the country

33:00 The challenge of industry insiders and lobbyists to fight price transparency (“Washington is not the solution.”)

34:40 Sean discusses how a local employer challenged the “cartel” which led to Direct Primary Care and Free Market Surgeries

36:00 Referencing Rick Scott (former HCA CEO) on why hospitals are not going to fix the problem of high healthcare costs

37:30 Dr. Smith on why the new Hospital Price Transparency regulations won’t work…but it will change the narrative

39:30 Correcting the definition of price transparency so it includes total costs (not just patient out-of-pocket costs)

41:30 How hospitals are blocking search engine results for price transparency

42:30 The best patient advocate is an independent primary care doctor that doesn’t work for the hospital!

43:30 The entrepreneurial response to disrupt a broken system (ex: Atlas and Sesame)

44:30 Direct Primary Care that are rebelling against the insurance system

47:00 Why health insurance companies actually want more spending

48:00 Dr. Smith on how is constantly creating new bundles for episodes of care (and he is willing to share his knowledge!)

50:30 Transparency does not create an increase in prices!  And why “the race to the bottom” is a myth as well.

52:30 Innovation is needed drive down cost structures (ex: 30% of revenues of surgical practices are spent on billing and collections for bad debt!)

53:00 “There is no such thing as a race to the bottom.  That is flawed economic thinking. What you have is a race to a market clearing price.”

55:00 “The only concern should be the needs of the buyer…and the buyer is sovereign.”

56:00 Providing value to the purchaser is key.  There needs to be competition in the market.

61:00 How the value-based care movement impacts a free market surgery center based on price transparency

62:00 Should the government recuse itself from any conversation having to do with health value?

64:00 Dr. Marty Makary and “The Price We Pay”

67:00 The dichotomy of value-based care and hospitals and how ACOs can used to minimize system leakage and increase profits

71:00 Reflecting on the price transparency movement and how that has changed patient lives for the better

Race to Value listeners — April is National Minority Health Month, and this year, the HHS Office of Minority Health is focusing on the disproportionate impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on racial and ethnic minority communities.  This Bonus Episode is a compilation of viewpoints on health equity and racial disparities of care from some of our former guests in the past year.  We hope you take the time to listen intently to their message.

Certainly over the last many year we have been exposed to the great inequities that have existed in our society for far too long.  We have one major obligation we have to each other…that is to tell the truth.  And the truth is, there are so many inequities in our society for minorities, including the manifestation of institutional racism within our nation’s health system. As leaders in value-based care, we have to be accountable to the endeavor that we are about. We endeavor to, in fact, ensure every patient receives the best treatment possible so they can live the life they are intended to live. That we endeavor to create the opportunity for health equity, and that is true regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or otherwise.

We hope you find meaning in this Bonus episode and gain awareness for how important health equity and social justice is to win this Race to Value.

Episode Bookmarks:

1:39 Daniel Chipping introduces National Minority Health Month and its’ focus on COVID-19 impact on minority communities

2:10 Dr. Eric Weaver delivers a special message on overcoming institutional racism in our nation’s healthcare system

3:29 Dr. Farzad Mostashari reflects on the murder of George Floyd and how it was a reckoning for social justice (and health equity)

6:33 Dr. Lerla Joseph discusses how she has devoted most of her life committed to health equity, how ACOs are a vehicle for change

12:30 David Smith provides a powerful social commentary on how pervasive systemic racism is in our society and his awakening as a white male

18:41 Christina Severin on the country’s reckoning, how her white privilege as conditioned her to be a racist, and how health centers can address inequities

23:10 Dr. Ernest Grant on the public health crisis of systemic racism, the disproportionate burden of disease related to SDOH, and how nurses can call for change

30:19 Dr. Stephen Klasko on how the zip code of communities ultimately determine health, and how the pandemic has raised awareness of inequities

31:46 Christina Severin on how the calling for racial justice, coupled with the pandemic, has created urgency to “bridge the digital divide”

33:36 Dr. Gordon Chen on the social injustice of different lifetime expectancy rates between white and minority communities

36:04 Shannon Brownlee on how Black Lives Matter has forced hospitals to focus on health equity

38:24 Dr. Mark Gwynne on how investment in data analytics can help ACOs identify opportunities in populations where there are disparate outcomes

39:11 Dr. Christopher Crow on how health equity in communities can be addressed through reforms in education, health, and business

40:27 Cheryl Lulias on building community-based coalitions to address health equity

42:10 Robert Sepucha on the disproportionate burden of kidney disease in minority populations

42:57 Dr. Edwin Estevez on the vulnerability of the Hispanic population on the Texas/Mexico border and how his ACO focuses on nutrition and health literacy

46:17 Mike Funk on how health plans can address disparities in minority communities

48:15 Dave Chase on the opportunity for social impact investment to creative cooperative structures in disadvantaged communities

48:53 Dr. Mark McClellan on health policy approaches to address health equity

49:30 Andrew Croshaw on how the Biden Administration will define value through health equity

Our nation has lost more than 300,000 people from COVID-19.  It is the latest sign of a generational tragedy – one still unfolding in every corner of the country.  As we head into the Christmas holiday, refusal to acknowledge the severity of the pandemic by acting irresponsibly will result in countless more deaths from the virus.

Our nation is at stake, and this week’s Race to Value guest, Dr. Brent Staton wants to share a personal message of love and hope for a brighter tomorrow.  His featured podcast episode (recorded with Dr. Ty Webb) on how the Cumberland Center for Healthcare Innovation is “Building Economic Strength in Rural Communities” was released earlier this week.  After recording that episode, he contracted COVID-19.  We invited him back for a Bonus episode to share a message of God’s love in serving others by taking the pandemic seriously during this upcoming holiday season.  Dr. Staton recorded this episode while hooked up to oxygen battling this terrible disease.

This pandemic is real.  If Dr. Staton’s message saves just one life, his service to his community, and the world as a whole, will have been realized.

Episode Bookmarks:

0:00   Update on the COVID crisis and Dr. Staton’s personal battle with the illness

1:30 “As an American nation, we need to re-focus on unity and protecting one another”

2:30 Complications with COVID-19, Influenza B, and underlying asthma

2:50 Due to a flu vaccine shortage, Dr. Staton gave his own personal dose to a patient (and then ended up contracting the flu)

3:10 How Dr. Staton contracted COVID-19 from a patient during a 15-second interaction

4:30 Serving Others:  Practicing medicine with a servant’s heart and Dr. Staton’s plea for his community to wear a mask as the ultimate gesture of servanthood and love for others

4:45 Health Inequities:  Dr. Staton has access to care during COVID that all Americans should have.

6:20 Dr. Staton is in his late 40’s and was in excellent health prior to his COVID infection.

7:30 Post-COVID complications after recovery

7:50 Misinformation on COVID from the media and the Internet.  “We can’t continue down a pathway of mistrust.”

9:15 Dr. Staton provides perspective on the unnecessary deaths he has seen due to COVID

9:50 Pandemic deniers, and the culture of fear and misunderstanding in our nation

11:00 The worst case scenario if people don’t begin taking the pandemic serious during the Christmas holidays

12:00 Appropriate mask wearing protocol

13:00 What a COVID infection really feels like (“a torture chamber”)

14:10 The truth about mask wearing and vaccine efficacy

15:10 “The disrespect for other human life” by those who refuse to wear masks

15:30 Trusting Dr. Fauci and public health officials, an update on the vaccine research, and misunderstanding of herd immunity

17:10 Using the God-given gift of a human brain and loving others as we get through the pandemic

18:20 Spiritual reflection on death and how we can preserve life by re-focusing on a pandemic plan, mask wearing, and social distancing

19:50 The end of the pandemic will take another year to reach and what Dr. Staton is seeing in the data from other countries

21:50 Treatment with monoclonal antibodies

23:20 The ultimate goal of CCHI is to serve patients in our community

24:00 World War II as a lesson for the unity needed in our nation to defeat COVID-19

27:10 Getting back to the basics (“wash your hands, social distance, love your neighbor, wear your mask, and take care of yourself appropriately”)

The Rio Grande Valley, located in the southernmost tip of Texas along the US-Mexico border, has become a new epicenter for COVID-19 over the last month.  Death rates are also over five times higher than the rest of Texas because more than 60-percent of residents are diabetic or prediabetic and more than 90-percent of the population is Latino. To compound the situation, the Valley was also impacted by the landfall of Hurricane Hanna on July 25th creating mass flooding, infrastructure stress, and home displacement in the local community.

The Valley needs our prayers and support.  In this bonus episode to the Race to Value podcast, Edwin Estevez provides an update on how the RGV community is dealing with this current public health crisis.  If interested in helping out the Rio Grande Valley community, please contact Edwin at [email protected].  Resources to community benefits organizations provide relief to the Valley are also listed below.

http://www.foodbankrgv.com/

https://www.redcross.org/local/texas/central-and-south-texas/volunteer.html

https://www.salvationarmytexas.org/mcallen/