In FY25, the Montgomery Cares (MCares) program served 24,813 participants in 76,064 primary care visits, according to PCC’s recent FY25 MCares Annual Report to the Montgomery County DHHS. This uninsured patient population includes 61% with household incomes below the federal poverty level and represents more than 80 primary languages. In addition to service statistics, this year’s report added details to reflect the broader contours of our work, highlighting improved system collaboration and progress on service innovation.
 
Collaboration in Action:
It’s not just a buzz word—collaboration is at the core of what we do—and in FY25, we did collaboration in new ways.

• Since FY18 MCares Behavioral Health Program (MCBHP) has tracked time spent on collaborative care activities—patient follow-up and coordination with other providers versus traditional therapy visits—often reflecting on the annual breakdown relative to environmental changes (ex. COVID increased time spent referring patients to social services support). This year we’ve added another tracking view: how frequently we’re coordinating with Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)-operated behavioral health programs. MCBHP and DHHS programs reflect key parts of the behavioral health treatment spectrum. Effective collaboration means guiding patients to the best resources based on their needs, with MCBHP focused on mild- to moderate depression and anxiety while DHHS programs focus on acute or complex needs. By tracking referrals into and out of MCBHP, we can see how frequently we interact with system partners and gain new visibility into patterns of patient needs.

• It is nearly impossible to collaborate effectively when you can’t confidently identify partners. In FY25, PCC conducted the Healthcare Safety Net Services Survey to gain a 360-degree view of the services our partners offer. Having systemic information in hand unlocks our ability to create coordination mechanisms, prioritize funding and capacity building based on areas of greatest need, and encourage joint problem-solving by establishing shared ownership of interconnected outcomes. In other words, the survey creates the information infrastructure we need to work well together.
  

Innovation at work
Our strategic plan includes a call to improve the way we serve our communities, and a new reporting area on incorporating innovation in our work highlights that plan in action. FY25 featured multiple efforts to improve how we do our work for more impact:

• Mapping the orientation process: Onboarding a new health center partner—in this case, the Islamic Center of Maryland—requires a deep dive into the programs we administer and the workflows that support them. Instead of simple updates to existing materials, our healthcare access team used onboarding as an opportunity to plot service workflows across programs. Their focus was on documenting the ways multiple services may serve the same patient and promoting a deep understanding of network services as a comprehensive system. They even created sample patient personas to help ICM staff think through the multiple needs they are likely to navigate for a single patient.​ ​

Catholic Charities Center Dental Clinic served 417 patients over 878 visits between April and June of 2025 alone. The numbers are impressive, but they cannot adequately convey the impact access to care makes on quality of life.

Behind those figures, for instance, is the story of a patient we’ll call Lucas, who came in with debilitating tooth pain that required an extraction. Mobility challenges would make a return dental visit difficult for him, so the dentist devised a same-day solution by adding an acrylic tooth to existing dental work. Catholic Charities didn’t just solve the immediate problem—they considered the whole person and came up with a care plan to meet all of Lucas’ needs.

That’s why Catholic Charities’ scope of work goes beyond traditional dentistry, to include screenings and referrals for high blood pressure and depression. From April through June of 2025, more than 90% of dental patients received these screenings.
Teams at Catholic Charities also participate in a weekly Spanish-language radio show on Radio America. The show highlights a host of community resource needs, from immigration to—you guessed it—oral health. Tune in Tuesdays at 3:30: https://tunein.com/embed/player/s265087.
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Montgomery Cares patients whose home health centers do not offer dental care can get regular dental cleanings, x-rays, extractions, fillings, and crowns through referrals to Catholic Charities. This partnership ensure patients have access to a range of health services to meet their needs and support long-term wellness.

Sandra Benitez has a natural gift for caring for others. Readers may remember her from our August feature, where she was highlighted as a participant in PCC’s Workforce Capacity program. This program, an initiative with Nexus Montgomery partner hospitals, provides scholarships to county residents like Sandra who aspire to work in health care. The initiative is especially meaningful in Sandra’s case—she grew up in Montgomery County and is now pursuing a career that allows her to give back to the community that raised her.

“My interest in caring for others began when I watched my grandmother navigate the health care system. I saw the incredible work the staff did to support her, but I also felt there was more I could contribute. That experience sparked my desire to pursue a career in caring for others,” Sandra shared. Her professional path started at Proyecto Salud Clinic, where she worked as an administrator from 2020 to 2025, focusing on facilitating patient care. Yet, Sandra’s true passion has always been to work directly with patients. “I loved helping people solve problems and creating opportunities for them, but deep down I knew what I really wanted was to be at the bedside—providing comfort, safety, and relief.”

Maria Caro, a Care Manager with the Montgomery Cares Behavioral Health Program at Proyecto Salud Clinic, came to know Sandra and quickly recognized that Sandra possessed the qualities of an outstanding nurse. Maria encouraged her to apply for the Workforce Capacity Program. “The timing was perfect—I was ready to follow my passion and the program aligned with exactly what I wanted to do,” Sandra recalls. She enrolled in October 2024, completed the program by December, and soon after accepted a position as a CNA at Holy Cross Hospital. There, she is now engaged in the hands-on work she had always envisioned for herself.
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Sandra emphasizes the profound impact a caregiver can have on a patient. Rooted in her community, with strong family ties and a deep commitment to serving those around her, she brings both loyalty and optimism to her work. “I don’t like sadness—I prefer to bring joy, and that motivates me,” she says. Inspired years ago by those who cared for her grandmother, Sandra hopes to nurture that same seed of compassion as she grows in her career. Her ultimate goal is to become a pediatric nurse, expanding her skills to support patients and families at the very start of life—though she values the importance of caregiving across every stage.

A grant from the U.S. Department of Labor(DOL)’s Employment and Training Administration funds 92% ($1.3 million) of the cost to train 200 healthcare workers and increase Montgomery College training capacity between December 2023 and November 2025. Non-governmental funds, including support from Maryland Physicians Care, support 8% ($116,566) of these costs. Additional workforce capacity efforts have been supported by WorkSource Montgomery, Maryland Physicians Care, and the Maryland Department of Labor.

Every achievement at PCC is the result of the team's collective efforts, and Faaiza Ahmed, Program Manager, truly embodies this collaborative spirit. For the past two years, she has worked behind the scenes as a senior program coordinator, coordinating the various moving parts, managing details, and ensuring action steps keep initiatives moving forward.

“We are fortunate to live in a community with such a strong safety net, but if we don't actively work to improve and strengthen it, it will eventually fall apart,” Faaiza says. “That’s where I see my responsibility: ensuring everything runs smoothly so it can continue to serve the community.”

Since June, Faaiza has supported population health programs at PCC as a program manager, offering key support for Nexus Montgomery programs and board. Nexus Montgomery is a collaboration among the six Montgomery County hospitals to improve community health and decrease avoidable hospitalizations. With PCC as its management entity, Nexus programs include workforce capacity development and the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Alliance. Faaiza’s role is vital in maintaining a steady flow of information and ensuring the smooth operation of these programs.

Faaiza is DMV-born (at Holy Cross Hospital) and raised (Virginia). She attended Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond before earning her master’s degree in public health from Marymount University. Public health was a natural evolution of her childhood passion for helping. “Serving others has always been a part of me,” Faaiza says. “Growing up, I either wanted to be a teacher or a doctor—anything that involved helping people was close to my heart.”

She and her husband, Aseer, have made a home close to her childhood roots, but Faaiza cautions against reading too much into that. The couple “are far from homebodies,” she says. “We love to travel.  We’ve visited seven countries in the past few years, with more still on our bucket list."
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Recent life changes have given them more reason to stay home, though. Colleague Rachel Lee played matchmaker, connecting Faaiza with a friend who had found a stray cat in need of a family. Miso is a sweet cuddler with a mesmerizing gaze...and no teeth, which Faaiza says “only adds to her charm.” And Miso doesn’t let her lack of teeth dampen her love of eating. “Just like us, she’s a total foodie,” Faaiza says. “She’s truly one-of-a-kind who has brought so much joy into our lives.”