News Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: December 28, 2004
For more information, contact: Virginia Elliott, Vice President for Programs, 620-662-8586

United Methodist Health Ministry Fund awards over $507,000 in new grants

Hutchinson, KS—The United Methodist Health Ministry Fund announces 10 new grants totaling over $507,000 for projects to improve the health of Kansans. Throughout 2004, the Health Fund has awarded over $3 million in health grants.

Five of the recent grants will support projects in oral health, one of the Health Fund’s strategic focus areas.

Twenty Kansans interested in oral health will experience a new leadership program being developed by Oral Health Kansas, Topeka. Oral Health Kansas is a statewide coalition with about 130 members who are working to improve oral health for all Kansans. Teresa Schwab is the Executive Director. The new leadership program will offer an intensive multi-day leadership skills and personal development training and five sessions focused on other planning and organizational skills, as well as up-to-date information about the oral health scene in Kansas and the nation. Class members will provide advocacy support for Oral Health Kansas after the sessions are completed. Funding of $200,000 for the program comes from both the Health Fund and the Wichita-based Kansas Health Foundation. The Kansas Health Foundation is a philanthropic organization whose mission is to improve the health of Kansans.

The Oral Health Workforce Summit will consider trends in the dental workforce of Kansas and discuss policy options to address anticipated declining provider availability over the next several decades. The Summit, sponsored by Oral Health Kansas, will be held on January 20-21 in Topeka. Andrew Allison, Ph.D., of the Kansas Health Institute and Richard Manski, DDS, Ph.D., will be the principal presenters at the event. A report prepared by the Kansas Health Institute, “The Supply of Dental Services in Kansas: Implications for Access and Options for Reform,” will provide information for the work of the attendees. The Summit is supported by a Health Fund grant of $24,860.

More than 20 area dentists have volunteered to help Southwest Boulevard Family Health Care Service of Greater Kansas City open a dental clinic. A $66,000 grant from the Health Fund will support the new service over the next two years. Dr. Sharon Lee, clinic medical director and founder, said access to dental care is a problem for those who can’t afford to pay very much. “Adding dental service is a natural outgrowth of our concern for the health of our growing number of patients. Our patients are poor and often uninsured. They are unlikely to go to a dentist for the kind of preventative care that we know is important to staying healthy.” Lee said the willingness of area dentists to volunteer their services to staff the clinic was the key to receiving the Health Fund grant. “This made our dental clinic a reality.” Lee said the clinic is expected to open early next year with Ron Deskin, DDS, serving as director of dental programming.

A Wichita-based program that provides oral health education, prevention services, and needed dental care to people living with HIV/AIDS will receive a grant of up to $54,000 to continue services in 2005 and 2006. The University of Kansas School of Medicine Medical Practice Association HIV program encourages HIV positive patients to pay special attention to their teeth. Project Director Mary Fusco explained that something as simple as a single untreated cavity can lead to systemic health issues in a person with compromised immunity. “This is all about prevention,” she explained. “Let’s take care of a problem before it becomes a bigger problem.” Prevention services and dental treatment is available through special arrangements with a dental office in Andover. This is the second grant the organization has received from the Health Fund to strengthen its efforts to improve oral health care for HIV positive individuals in Kansas.

The fourth Kansas Mission of Mercy (KMOM) event will be held in Salina on February 18-20. Organized by the Kansas Dental Association and the Kansas Dental Hygienists Association, KMOM offers free dental services to all patients on a first come, first served basis. The three prior events served more than 6500 people with $2,294,000 in dental services provided by volunteer dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants and support staff. The Health Fund has provided support for each KMOM event and the current grant of $10,000 goes to the Kansas Dental Charitable Foundation for general support of KMOM in Salina.

Three new grants have been awarded for projects seeking to improve access to health care, another strategic focus area of the Health Fund.

Developing new management tools for a non-profit medical clinic to handle ever increasing numbers of patients unable to pay for care is the goal of a project being undertaken by GraceMed Clinic of Wichita. A $58,000 grant has been awarded to fund the fourteen-month project. GraceMed executive director David Sanford said safety net clinics need to be even more sophisticated managers of limited resources than for-profit clinics. “It is vital that clinics such as GraceMed maintain a stable financial bottom line while fulfilling our mission of providing access to primary care, regardless of ability to pay.” Having good management information, Sanford continued, is the first step to achieving balance between financial sustainability and a strong mission of service. “We believe this project will be invaluable to our future as we grow to serve growing needs.”

A $40,000 grant has been awarded to the Kansas Association of the Medically Underserved (KAMU) – a Topeka-based association representing primary care clinics statewide—to develop a health care access consumer advocacy group. The Kansas Health Consumer Coalition, according to KAMU Executive Director Karla Finnell, will strengthen the voice of Kansas residents in local, state, and national health care access policy discussions. “This is the time to get informed and get involved,” Finnell said. “Solutions that affect whether people get health care and whether they can afford health insurance are being discussed everywhere right now. Kansans cannot afford to be left out of these discussions.”

A grant of $25,740 goes to United Methodist Urban Ministry of Wichita to continue its translator and advocacy services for non-English speaking Hispanics seeking assistance. Translator services are needed for more than 250 families at the agency each month. Families in crisis are referred to a part-time bilingual advocate for consultation. Surveys of non-English speaking families coming to Urban Ministry indicate most request information regarding employment and half request help with dental care. More than 30 percent are asking for medical or prescription assistance. A grant from the Health Fund helped establish the services of a bilingual advocate two years ago to help improve access to health care.

A grant of $25,000 has been awarded to the Volunteer Center at Hutchinson Community College to continue its Faith In Action Volunteer Caregiver Service. This program, started two years ago as part of the larger national Faith In Action program developed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, matches volunteers with elderly people living in Reno County who need assistance in order to remain independent in their own homes. This might include transportation to doctor’s appointments, help with grocery shopping, or just a friendly visit. The program currently has 43 volunteers. Faith In Action Coordinator Patsy Lovett said the program is expected to continue to grow as more people become aware of the service.

Beloit United Methodist Church has been awarded a $3,975 grant to help establish a Parish Nurse Program to serve the congregation and community. Grant funding will be used to purchase medical equipment, supplies and other health ministry resources. The grant project director is Gayle Sewell, and the pastor of Beloit UMC is Rev. Ken Parker.

Under the Health Fund’s Congregational Health Ministry initiative, start-up grants of up to $5,000 are available to local Kansas United Methodist churches to stimulate the development of comprehensive congregational health and wellness ministries. It is the hope of the Health Fund that these one-time grants, added to local church resources, will mobilize strong volunteer efforts to address many facets of health, healing and wholeness in congregations and communities throughout Kansas.

Based in Hutchinson, the mission of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund is “Healthy Kansans through cooperative and strategic philanthropy guided by Christian principles.” Its funding comes from an endowment established in 1986 by the Kansas West Conference of the United Methodist Church from a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Wesley Hospital in Wichita. Since the Health Fund’s founding, grants totaling more than $36 million have supported hundreds of health-related projects in Kansas.

Additional information about the Health Fund is available by calling the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund in Hutchinson at (620) 662-8586, or by visiting the Health Fund’s website: http://www.healthfund.org

 

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