Grateful patients honor parents’ legacy by supporting program that helps seniors in need.
Bill and Sharron Dawson settled in the Dallas area in 1986 to follow Sharron’s career advancement with the Department of Health and Human Services. Bill had retired from a career in the armed forces and in the precious metals business. The couple soon began speaking with Bill’s parents, Alan and Margaret Dawson, who had settled in South Carolina after their own retirement, about joining them in the Metroplex area.
“As the year 2000 approached, we decided it was time to bring them here to be with us,” Bill said, talking about the extra rooms he and Sharron had available to give his parents their own space inside the Dawsons’ home in Cedar Hill.
Among the many aspects of DFW Bill and Sharron enjoyed sharing with his parents was the excellent medical care they received through Baylor Scott & White Health. “That’s one of the things about our relationship with Baylor—every doctor we have dealt with has been fantastic,” Bill said.
“Our family physician took care of Bill’s dad and then Bill’s mom before she passed,” Sharron explained. “That triggered our appreciation for what was then the senior program.”
Bill’s father passed in 2006 and his mother in 2013. Friends urged Bill and Sharron to consider formalizing their wishes for their own estate and draw up a will.
“We decided that we were just so pleased with the care my parents received. We said, ‘Well, we don’t have kids—let’s put Baylor on our list.’”
—Bill Dawson
“We decided that we were just so pleased with the care my parents received. We said, ‘Well, we don’t have kids—let’s put Baylor on our list,’” Bill said. Specifically, Bill and Sharron thought it important to help other seniors in need of medical care, and trusted Baylor Scott & White to provide those services. Through this bequest, the Dawsons have designated a legacy of support after their own passing that will benefit the Baylor Scott & White HouseCalls program.
The HouseCalls program has provided care for senior adults in North Texas for more than 20 years. Staffed by clinicians experienced in the unique needs of geriatric patients, the program provides primary care to older adults who are homebound and unable to access healthcare through regular office visits with a physician.
“Bringing quality care to seniors in the comfort of their home helps us support our patients to maintain a quality of life and avoid visits to the emergency room,” said Jennifer Heffernan, MD, medical director of HouseCalls, which serves more than 1,000 patients currently enrolled in the program.
Sharron and Bill, who celebrated 50 years of marriage this past December, have said that their bequest is something akin to writing a child into a will, with the intent of benefiting a cause rather than one person after their time here on Earth. The couple is excited about benefiting others through the HouseCalls program.
“We know the healthcare at Baylor Scott & White is spectacular,” Sharron reinforced. “We hope that in some small way, this helps make an impact for others.”
For more information on how you can leave a legacy through a bequest or other planned gift, please contact Craig Foster at 214.820.8196 or Craig.Foster@BSWHealth.org. For information on the program, visit BSWHealth.com/HouseCalls.
