News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: October 7, 2009
For more information, contact Virginia Elliott, Vice President for Programs, 620-662-8586

Focus areas for 2010 grants announced by Health Fund

Hutchinson, KS—Three specific health issues in Kansas will be the focus for grant allocations by the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund over the next three years.

A yearlong study led the Hutchinson-based funder to develop a new initiative for children's mental health. The goal is to improve the timely identification of young children with mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders to enable appropriate professional services to be provided as early as possible. The other two issues, concerning access to health care and healthy lifestyles, are a refinement of ongoing efforts.

In determining the issues on which to focus, Trustees of the Health Fund recommended the new access to health care initiative focus on rural and other underserved areas of Kansas, and the healthy lifestyles initiative center around improving nutrition and physical activity for young children. The Health Fund will award grants of approximately $2 million in each of the three focus areas over the next three years.

In announcing the strategic direction of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund beginning in 2010, President Kim Moore said access to health care has always been of particular interest to the Health Fund. "Our earliest grants, more than twenty years ago, were for safety-net medical services in Kansas," he explained. "Now, though, we are going to concentrate on the specific needs of our state's rural areas and other regions lacking safety-net services."

Moore pointed out that a map of Kansas showing workforce shortage areas for healthcare reveals a serious access issue, and stresses that the situation is going to get even worse unless some new approaches for delivering services can be developed in rural Kansas. "We are particularly concerned what this means for people who are living in poverty. There just aren't many safety-net options in rural Kansas," Moore said. Because of that, the Health Fund will collaborate with state organizations, as well as with rural communities and local health professionals, to explore potential new models of care to fund.

The initiative to promote healthful eating and physical activity for young children will target the age range of birth through five years. "We're looking at everything from breast feeding to creating safe outdoor play areas," Moore said. "Young children and their families offer an ideal opportunity to develop healthy habits that will last a lifetime and be the best prevention against disease and disability."

Oral health has been a major emphasis of the Health Fund since 1998. Although it will continue to help sustain efforts increasing access to dental care, particularly with workforce issues, the Health Fund will not be developing new initiatives in oral health according to Moore. He said there have been vast improvements in oral health and a significant increase in the acceptance of oral health as a health issue since the Health Fund launched its Healthy Teeth for Kansans initiative more than a decade ago.

Moore recalled the beginning of the oral health effort when much of the Kansas interest and advocacy concerning oral health, outside of oral health professionals, was centered in the Health Ministry Fund and an advisory committee it formed. "It is encouraging to see how much has changed. Now we have the Bureau of Oral Health at the Kansas Department of Health & Environment to provide leadership, and advocacy is well-established through the Oral Health Kansas coalition. Oral health is in good hands in Kansas and I know it will continue to progress."

Addressing the challenges of weighing one health issue against another in determining where to concentrate the foundation's limited resources, Moore said "It is very difficult, and comes down to assessing the potential for doing the most good with the dollars we have to invest. Our Trustees decided the emphasis should be on access to health care, healthy lifestyles, and mental health for young children. But our transition from oral health funding will be done slowly and with consideration for what yet needs to be accomplished."

Since its endowment by the Kansas West Conference of the United Methodist Church in 1986, the Health Fund has invested in health, healing, and wholeness for Kansans through more than $50 million in grants. Additional information about United Methodist Health Ministry Fund activities and initiatives is available at www.healthfund.org.

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