The Texas Diabetes Institute - recently cited by the New York Times in a groundbreaking expose of San Antonio's Latino amputation crisis - largely exists thanks to COPS/Metro.  During the early 1990s, when the local Lutheran hospital filed for bankruptcy, COPS/Metro built the political will for the City of San Antonio to purchase the hospital.

[Excerpts]

People in the neighborhood “were afraid of losing (the) only health-care facility, and others were concerned about the negative economic impact,” Ermis said....

Community groups such as Communities Organized for Public Service, or COPS, and Metro Alliance worked with city and county leaders to purchase the property and build a new health care facility there. A study determined that “diabetes was the No. 1 health issue for that (area’s) population,” Ermis said.

....These are now in use as offices of the Texas Diabetes Institute, which opened May 9, 1999. Operated by the University Health System, the community health resource offers a range of treatment and education services.

[Photo Credit: Conservation Society of San Antonio]

One-Time 'TB Cottages' Converted to Help Tackle Diabetes, San Antonio Express-News [pdf]