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Health Fundamentals Newsletter

An online newsletter published by the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund.

Volume 1 - Issue 1 - May 1, 2004

Access to Health Care

Working to make professional health care available to all


Covering the Uninsured Week, May 10-16, 2004

Covering the Uninsured Week is a program organized by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and designed to bring together major segments of society—business, labor, health care, education, religion, consumer advocacy, entertainment, and philanthropy—to raise public awareness about the issue of the medically uninsured and elevate it to ensure that it is among our nation’s most urgent priorities.

The Health Fund and the Kansas Health Foundation this year have partnered with RWJF to bring Covering the Uninsured Week activities to communities all across Kansas. The issues raised by Covering the Uninsured Week directly relate to the Health Fund’s strategic focus on access to health care, offering an opportunity to tie into a national effort with well-researched, quality materials.

Activities the Health Fund is directly involved with include a presentation given by Covering the Uninsured Week Kansas Field Coordinator Tami Bradley at the Health Ministry Renewal Conference April 16-17, an interfaith prayer breakfast to be held in Hutchinson May 12, and funding support for KPTS programs on the topic of the uninsured.

For more information, visit the project website at:

www.covertheuninsuredweek.org

 

Oral Health

Working to improve oral health through education, prevention, and access to care


Oral Health grants available from the Health Fund

The Health Fund has recently issued a new Request for Proposals (RFP) offering funding to projects aimed at improving oral health in Kansas. Examples of eligible projects include, but are not limited to:

  • Dental hygiene projects in public settings
  • Community water fluoridation
  • Access to care for unserved and underserved persons
  • Integration of oral health into medical and other settings
  • Professional Education and Conferences
  • Other special opportunities to advance oral health

The next deadline for proposals stemming from this RFP to be submitted is July 12, 2004. Interested organizations should contact Health Fund program staff to discuss project characteristics. If the program officer determines that the project has the potential to be funded, authorization to submit a grant request will be provided. The Health Fund has an online grant request submission system which makes applying for a grant simple and straightforward. Details of the RFP are available at:

http://www.healthfund.org/oralhealth/htkrfp04.php

 


Health Fund assists with Third Annual Kansas Mission of Mercy (KMOM) event in Pittsburg

Most of us take oral health care for granted. With adequate insurance coverage, we attend our bi-annual check-up and cleanings and have the ability to immediately seek professional care in the event of an oral health emergency. Other than our daily regimen of brushing and flossing, we rarely give oral health a second thought and never realize the suffering many endure.

But for all too many Kansans, access to professional dental care is simply not an option. The two previous Kansas Mission of Mercy (KMOM) events which have been held brought to light just how limited access to oral health actually is in the state. The initiatives offer oral health care to those without the ability to pay for dental services. Organized by the Kansas Dental Association in cooperation with the Kansas Dental Hygieniests’ Association, the programs have previously featured free dental services volunteered by dental professionals during a weekend in Garden City (providing free services to over 1,700 patients) and another in Wyandotte County (treating over 2600 patients).

The third Kansas Mission of Mercy event took place from April 30 through May 2 in Pittsburg, KS. The Health Fund provided support to the event in a number of ways, including funding of an exit survey, providing $10,000 for additional needed equipment, and funding the presence of the United Methodist Hutchinson District Disaster Relief Trailer at the event to provide food for patients. Two Health Fund staffers volunteered at the event.

Data gathered in the exit surveys from the Garden City and Wyandotte KMOM events indicate that an average of 22 percent of the patients stated that they had never previously received dental care. Across all age groups, 88 to 93 percent had not had a dental visit in the previous six months.

In addition to directly improving oral health through dental treatment, the KMOM events have also helped illustrate the tremendous need for improved access to oral health care in Kansas.

For additional information, see www.ksdentalfoundation.org

 


Kansas Legislators authorize creation of State Dental Office

According to a Harris News Service article released April 20, Kansas lawmakers have allocated $50,000 to help pay for the creation of a state dental office to help address multiple issues related to oral health in the state. The Health Fund will also contribute funding to support the new dental office when it is instituted.

The new office will work with private groups to improve access to oral health care across the state and will provide an opportunity for the state to receive federal and private matching funds which were previously unavailable due to the lack of a state dental officer.

Two of the office’s main goals will be to find ways for low-income patients to receive dental care and to find ways to fight the chronic shortage of dentists that continues to worsen in Kansas as more dentists are retiring than are beginning practice.

 

Healthy Lifestyles

Promoting healthy nutrition and healthy activity to maintain and improve health

Our recent activities in this focus area are being developed in partnership with local United Methodist congregations and the Kansas UM Conferences. Please see the Congregational Health Partnership section below for more details.

 

Congregational Health Partnership

Working together with local United Methodist churches for a healthy Kansas


Healthy Congregations 2003 awards announced

A record 92 congregations qualified for recognition of their health ministries through the Health Fund’s Healthy Congregations recognition program. The Healthy Congregations program, now in its eighth year, recognizes what Kansas United Methodist congregations are doing to nurture, reach out, and educate through ministries of health, healing, and wholeness. In addition to recognition, Healthy Congregations shares information about what is being done with the ultimate goal being to encourage more health ministries in Kansas UM churches.

Congregations are invited annually to submit reports about health ministry activities they have undertaken in the previous year. Congregations which qualify for recognition are presented to the Annual Conference and receive a free health resource to further their work. Six congregations (one in each of three membership classes from both KS West and KS East conferences) are designated “Healthy Congregations of the Year” and receive $1000 honoraria for their exceptional health ministries.

The Healthy Congregations of the Year awards were presented to representatives of the six congregations April 17 at the third annual Health Ministry Renewal Conference at Rock Springs 4-H camp. Recipients of the $1000 Healthy Congregations of the Year awards are:

In Kansas West Conference:

  • Milton UMC (100 members or under category)
  • Chapel Hill UM Fellowship (101 to 500 members category)
  • First UMC Hutchinson

In Kansas East Conference:

  • University UMC Kansas City (100 members or under category)
  • First UMC Garnett (101 to 500 members category)
  • Highland Park UMC Topeka (501 members or over category)

To learn more about Healthy Congregations and to view the full list of churches recognized for 2003, click here.

 


Third annual Health Ministry Renewal Conference continues legacy of success

Building on the success of two previous state-wide conferences designed to encourage and promote the development of congregational health ministry programming, the event, held April 16 and 17 at Rock Springs 4-H camp, was a hit with presenters and participants alike.

The conference, sponsored and organized by the Health Fund, attracted a record 91 attendees and featured presenters including Rev. Larry Pray, author and Pastor of First Congregational Church, Big Timber, Montana; Dr. James Early, Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine & Public Health, KU School of Medicine—Wichita; Tami Bradley, Kansas Field Organizer for Covering the Uninsured Week; and a panel of health ministry program coordinators from local KS United Methodist churches.

The conference was designed to provide participants with a number of benefits, including:

  • Information about what local churches are doing to encourage healthy lifestyles through healthy physical activity and healthy food choices, one of the Health Fund's strategic focus areas.
  • Renewed personal energy through shared spiritual activities in a scenic retreat setting
  • Useful information about current health ministries in Kansas United Methodist congregations
  • Networking opportunities with others having shared interests and motivations toward congregational health ministries

The conference concluded with an awards ceremony where six Kansas United Methodist churches were recognized as “Healthy Congregations of the Year” for their outstanding examples of congregational health ministries reported through the Health Fund’s Healthy Congregations program. Representatives of the congregations were honored and presented with $1000 award checks at the ceremony.

 


Kansas Area United Methodist Fitness Taskforce to introduce resolution at Annual Conferences

The Kansas Area United Methodist Fitness Taskforce, an informal working group dedicated to improving health in the Church, has developed a resolution to create a Kansas Area Healthy Lifestyles Advisory Committee as a joint effort between the Kansas East and Kansas West Conferences of the United Methodist Church.

The Committee, which would be composed of seven members from each Conference, would seek to:

  • Encourage self-care by clergy and lay members of the Church
  • Promote and develop local church and institutional programs to provide accessible exercise venues and healthy eating knowledge and experiences
  • Assist in developing local partnerships with church institutions and agencies, businesses, health care providers, schools, and other community resources to promote congregational and community health
  • Increase communication in our churches concerning health--spiritual, physical, mental, and environmental
  • Assist local churches in development of policies and activities which support and model health
  • Collect church-specific behavior data as provided by cooperating congregations and other partners, and:
  • Network United Methodists who are active in these issues for additional training and support

The resolution will be brought before both the Kansas West and Kansas East Conferences this summer.