History
History
The organization known today as HSNT was incorporated in 1988 in Denton, Texas as AIDS/Denton, Inc. by citizens whose lives had been affected by HIV/AIDS in some way. In the beginning, the organization's primary goals were to provide support groups, volunteer assistance, education to the community, and comfort clients and their families in their struggle with AIDS.
The agency grew as it became increasingly apparent how many people living with HIV/AIDS were not able to secure the medicines and food they needed to stay healthy. When federal Ryan White CARE Act funding became availabe, we became AIDS Services of North Texas, began providing comprehensive medical care, and our service area expanded across five counties with offices in Denton, Plano, and Greenville.
ASNT provides outpatient medical care, medical and comprehensive case management, housing assistance, mental health counseling, prescription assistance, food pantry, and transportation to over 500 clients living in Denton, Collin, Hunt, Rockwall, and Kaufman Counties. As ASNT continued to provide services to the low-income North Texans living with HIV/AIDS, it became increasingly apparent there existed wider unmet needs in the areas we served.
In order to serve a wider population, ASNT began providing non-HIV services. When the opportunity presented itself to provide Guardianship Services to Denton County, it was a natural fit. ASNT identified elderly and incapacitated people without proper care as a glaring community need and began providing Adult Guardianship Services in Denton County in 2007. As well, ASNT began providing low-cost mental health counseling services to non HIV+ clients. To better reflect its wider scope of services, ASNT took the dba Health Services of North Texas.
In 2010, HSNT integrated the programs of the People's Clinic of Denton County into its service umbrella. The People's Clinic has a long history of providing comprehensive primary care to all Denton County residents, regardless of income level or disease status. HSNT combined all its clinic operations and opened a new Community Clinic next door to its Denton office, out of which it provides its wide array of primary care services to all residents of Denton County in need of medical care.
Over the past two decades, HSNT has grown from its grass roots beginnings into a professional primary care and social service agency with multiple sites and programs. HSNT will continue to seek out needy populations within the communities we serve in order to make North Texas a healthier place to live.
