Heart of Kansas cares about community health

BY SUSAN THACKER sthacker@gbtribune.com

Heart of Kansas Family Health Care Inc. is for everyone, says Brett Middleton, chief executive officer. Its Community Health Centers are located at 1905 19th St. in Great Bend, 522 Broadway in Larned and 412 Grand Ave. in Stafford.

All of the clinics offer affordable health care for the entire family.

“We receive all people, regardless of their ability to pay,” Middleton said. “We provide primary health care, behavioral health, substance abuse, and dental care to all patients regardless of their ability to pay or their insurance status. We’ll see people all the way from fully insured, fully employed with good insurance, and everything all the way down – Medicare, Medicaid, all the way down to people that are homeless, have no insurance or have no job.”

All insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, and Farm Worker Program participants are accepted. A sliding scale of discounted fees is available to those who qualify. A patient’s costs are based upon income level and the number of people in the household.

Heart of Kansas services

Heart of Kansas Family Health Care Inc is a Nonprofit 501(c) (3) Federally Qualified Health Center.

Heart of Kansas focuses intently on managing the chronic diseases of diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.

Access to services including an in-house laboratory, diabetic education, consultation with a certified dietitian and referrals to specialty care providers are all part of the individualized care provided to patients.

Services include medical, behavioral health, immunization/ preventive care and prescription assistance.

Heart of Kansas Family Health Care has a Prescription Assistance Program (PAP) available to its patients which provides medication at very low or no cost to eligible low and fixed income.

Heart of Kansas Family also provides dental services. Dr. Wonsik Jung and Dr. Timothy Pivonka offer dental health, cleaning, and prevention services are available for all ages.

The hours for all Heart of Kansas offices are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, with extended hours to 7 p.m. on Thursdays. Each office offers bilingual services.

Community Health Worker Flor Sanchez joins team

sthacker@gbtribune.com

Flor Sanchez, a certified Community Health Worker, is finishing her first year at Heart of Kansas in that grantfunded position. Her goal is to find resources and help patients get access to those resources.

“That was in partnership with the University of Kansas School of Medicine,” Heart of Kansas CEO Brett Middleton said. “KU approached me in being a partner in setting up the COPE project (Communities Organizing to Promote Equity) to address health disparities in rural Kansas.”

COPE helped establish Local Health Equity Action Teams (LHEATs) to address health inequities by engaging under-served individuals. Identifying barriers to health and wellbeing goes beyond traditional clinical care. It might include housing, transportation, or anything that is needed within the community, Sanchez said.

“We did a haircut event at the beginning of last year,” she said, giving an example. Salons in the county got on board and donated their time, allowing 122 kids to receive free haircuts last April at three locations. “And we have done food boxes, Cinco de Mayo and Thanksgiving, and partnered up with different organizations here. Right now we’re working with the Barton County Conservation District team on the Victory Garden.”

On Feb. 4, employees at the clinic volunteered their time to sponsor the Heart of Kansas Heart Walk at the Great Bend Activity Center. It was an

American Heart Association fundraiser that also benefited local programs, Sanchez said. The grant for COPE will expire at the end of 2023.

“We’ll continue the COPE program as long as there’s funding for it,” Middleton said. “The hope is that after that grant expires, Flor will continue with us as a Community Health Worker. The job would look much the same.”

LHEAT

LHEAT is the action team and keeps the projects coming. Two events that will be offered soon are a “Living Health Resource Day” and a day of free legal help for people who have lost their driver’s license through a DUI but need to be able to drive to their place of employment. The Living Health Resource Day will bring multiple organizations together to help people learn about how to find life insurance, set up a will or have access to health screenings, for example.

For the other event, LHEAT is working with Kansas Legal Service to do a program and provide free help in fi out the paperwork to be able to drive on a restricted level, from home to work and work to home.”

“We’re finalizing the details on that,” Sanchez said. Again, this may not sound like a wellness issue, but, if a person can’t get to work because of a DUI and therefore doesn’t have any money coming into the household, it aff everything, including buying food and paying utility bills.

“I’m here to help the community in any way