Community partnerships support UT Southwestern RedBird hiring

When UT Southwestern Medical Center at RedBird opens in a few weeks, we’ll expand the health care options available in Southwest Dallas County. We’ll also bring more than 70 new jobs to the community, including medical office assistants, radiographers, nurses, doctors, and other professionals.

To support recruitment for these jobs, including attracting people from the RedBird area, a hiring event was held this past April at the Duncanville Fieldhouse. It was planned and implemented with help from the community − as a partnership between UT Southwestern, the City of Duncanville, and the Best Southwest Partnership and its member cities.

The hiring event was a success. About 500 people attended the event or participated virtually. Job offers were extended on the spot. More than 60 positions were filled to staff the new RedBird center, as well as other UT Southwestern locations.

“During the pandemic and with the current hiring market, filling positions has been a struggle for many organizations,” said Alisha Orton, UT Southwestern’s Director of Ambulatory Operations, Regional Medical Centers. “In working with the Best Southwest Partnership and its member cities, we overcame this challenge. It was such a success we may build on this type of effort to support employee recruitment efforts beyond the new RedBird center.”

Community collaboration played a major role in the effectiveness of the event. This was fostered, in large part, by the Best Southwest Partnership, which focuses on improving quality of life and promoting economic development in Southwest Dallas County and Northern Ellis County.

UT Southwestern RedBird will provide a broad range of services, including access to primary care, as well as additional specialties such as heart, cancer, and brain care. Other key services will include diabetes screenings; a state-of-the-art infusion therapy center; sophisticated imaging, such as mammograms, CTs, and MRIs; on-site lab testing; and a full-service pharmacy. At RedBird, UT Southwestern has transformed a 150,000-square-foot space, which once housed Sears. It’s part of major changes and redevelopment happening at The Shops at RedBird.