RVA 2025 – HEALTH

10S ACROSS THE BOARD

HELP Center for LGBTQ Health and Wellness

For more than 27 years, the HELP Center for LGBT Health and Wellness, with offices in Fort Worth and Arlington, has been providing health and education services focused on preventing AIDS/HIV and other STDs through “innovative, comprehensive and accessible” programming that includes testing, PrEP and so much more.

Founded in 1994 at a time when the attention was focused on addressing the HIV crisis, the HELP Center has grown consistently through its nearly three decades, adding staff and programs and broadening its focus to “making vitally needed care available to at-risk adolescents and adults, HIV positive individuals, ethnic and sexual minorities, and the LGBT community as a whole,” as the HELP Center website notes.

HELP’s current programs, in addition to PrEP services, include HIV testing, condom distribution, STI prevention and community mobilization. The programs are administered by a staff that includes CEO DeeJay Johannessen, COO Cheryl Beauchamp, Chief Clinical Officer Kelle Tillman, practitioners Josephine Correia, Eddie Flores, Johnnie Ireland and Brentton Lowery, Director of Behavioral Health Katherine McDougall-Pillai, Director of Marketing and Brand Management Cody Hutchison, Director of Prevention JP Cano and Director of Public Affairs and Community Engagement Nathan Smith.

This year, Dallas Voice readers have recognized HELP Center for LGBT Health and Wellness with four — count them, FOUR! — separate Readers Voice Awards, proving that the center’s efforts to make a different in our LGBTQ community have not gone unnoticed or unappreciated. HELP Center’s for 2025 RVAs are:

• Best Place to Get Tested: Testing at HELP Center clinics are available by appointment and walk-in and at community events and area gay bars. The Center uses INSTI Rapid HIV and Syphilis Health Check tests, which means you have your HIV test results in 1 minute and syphilis test results in 10 minutes.
  HELP Center’s Fort Worth location at 1919 8th Ave. is open for testing Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-4:15 p.m. The Arlington location at 602 E. South St., is open for testing from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays, and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Call 817-332-7722 for more information.
• Best General Practitioner: Kelle Tillman, DNP, APRN, ACNS-BC, AAHIVS. She is a board-certified adult and gerontological clinical nurse specialist and is credentialed as an HIV specialist with the American Academy of HIV Medicine and has been a part of the HELP Center’s PrEP program since it launched in 2017. In her role as HELP’s chief clinical officer, she has been a driving force for the expansion of services to include primary care, gender-affirming care, behavioral health and HIV care. Tillman also serves as adjunct faculty of graduate nursing for Midwestern State University, a faculty associate for TCU’s Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences and a member of TCU Nursing’s Professional Advisory Board.
• Best Transgender Health Care: For information or to schedule an appointment, call 817-332-7722 or visit HELPCenterTx.org.
• Best Pharmacy: For information or to schedule an appointment,
  call 817-332-7722 or visit HELPCenterTx.org.
  — Tammye Nash

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Best Place to Get Tested
HELP Center for LGBT Health & Wellness
602 E South St. in Arlington,
1919 8th Ave. in Fort Worth
817-332-7722
HELPCenterTx.org

Best General Practitioner
Kelle Tillman, HELP Center for LGBT Health & Wellness
602 E. South St. in Arlington,
1919 8th Ave. in Fort Worth
817-332-7722
HELPCenterTx.org

Best Group Medical Practice
MD Progressive Care
3500 Oak Lawn Ave., Ste. 700, Dallas
214-521-0100
MDProgressiveCare.com

Best HIV Specialist
Dr. Taylor Schmidt, MD Progressive Care
3500 Oak Lawn Ave., Ste. 700, Dallas
214-521-0100
MDProgressiveCare.com

Best Transgender Healthcare
HELP Center for LGBT Health & Wellness
602 E. South St. in Arlington,
1919 8th Ave. in Fort Worth
817-332-7722
HELPCenterTx.org

Best Cosmetic Practitioner
Peter Triporo, MD Progressive Care
3500 Oak Lawn Ave., Ste. 700, Dallas
214-521-0100
MDProgressiveCare.com

Best Dentist
Dr. Jonathan Vogel, Knox Dental
4514 Cole Ave., Ste. 905, Dallas
214-521-6261
DentistOakLawnDallas.com

Best Dermatologist — TIE:
Dr. Farhad Niroomand
Uptown Derm, 4144 N. Central Expressway, Ste. 855, Dallas
214-303-1102
UptownDerm.com

Dr. Breck Thrash, U.S. Dermatology Partners
3607 Oak Lawn Ave., Ste. 200, Dallas
214-941-4212 USDermatologyPartners.com

Best Chiropractor
Dr. Eric Paye, CoreHealth Wellness
3500 Oak Lawn Ave., Ste. 650, Dallas
214-219-3300
CoreHealthWellness.com.

Best Counselor/Therapist
Kate McDougall
Coppell
682-305-2821
MKMCounseling@gmail.com

Best Optometrist
Dr. Bill Henderson, Uptown Vision
3710 Rawlins St., Ste. 100, Dallas
214-953-3937,
UptownVisionDallas.com

Best Pharmacy
HELP Center for LGBT Health & Wellness
602 E South St. in Arlington,
1919 8th Ave. in Fort Worth
817-332-7722
HELPCenterTx.org

Best Urgent/Emergency Care Facility
Texas Health Breeze Urgent Care
Multiple locations
BreezeUrgentCare.TexasHealth.org