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Health Fundamentals

January 2010
Sections: News | Funding and Resources | Events

News

New grants announced

The United Methodist Health Ministry Fund is pleased to announce the award of 26 new grants totaling more than $1,572,000 to improve the health of Kansans.

Fourteen of the new grants were approved under the Health Fund’s 2009 “Think of the Possibilities” grant program, which offered special funding opportunities in the fields of health care access and specific children’s health issues.  “We called these ‘Think of the Possibilities’ grants because we wanted to encourage applicants to consider approaches that might go beyond how they were already providing services, said Fund president Kim Moore. The remaining twelve grants were awarded through the Health Fund’s normal funding process, covering fields including access to health care, oral health, and clergy wellness among others.

A grant of $69,800 will support GraceMed Health Clinic in assisting eligible low-income Wichita area families with enrollment in HealthWave insurance coverage.  In requesting funding, GraceMed executive director David Sanford said a significant number of the estimated 30,000 Kansas children who are eligible for HealthWave coverage but not enrolled reside in south central Kansas including Sedgwick County.  “With eligibility requirement expanding in 2010, there will be even more children who can be covered, but many families need help navigating the enrollment process and maintaining coverage,” Sanford explained.  An outreach coordinator to work with families will be employed through the grant.  Because of a pilot program at GraceMed that allows presumptive eligibility, children enrolled through clinic initiatives will have immediate access to health care services.

Thirty-two United Methodist clergy have been randomly selected to participate in a pilot project related to adoption of sustainable healthy lifestyle behaviors.  This Clergy Wellness Program is developed and sponsored by the Area Health and Wellness Committee of the Kansas East and West Conferences of the United Methodist Church.  Clergy participants will take part in health assessments, a two-day intensive wellness retreat with a variety of professional advisors, and on-going sessions with wellness coaches.  Physical, nutritional, spiritual, behavioral, and financial health will be addressed in ways aimed at meeting special needs of clergy.  The program receives $20,000 in Health Fund support and $50,000 from the Kansas Health Foundation, Wichita.

The E.C. Tyree Health & Dental Clinic, located at Saint Mark United Methodist Church in Wichita, has been awarded $12,000 to expand its dental services.  With the grant, the clinic will increase its hours to include three evenings a week and Saturday mornings.  Services are available on a sliding fee scale based on income.

The Health Fund awarded a grant of $16,220 to help start a free health clinic in Kingman.  St. Gianna Health Clinic opened September 19.  It will be open one Saturday each month and is expected to serve 500 low-income patients in the first year.  The Kingman United Methodist Church is serving initially as the reception facility.  Area health care providers are volunteering their services for the clinic.  The clinic director is Melissa Riopel.

Dillon Nature Center, a division of the Hutchinson Recreation Commission, will receive a grant of $75,000 to help with the design and development of an outdoor nature discovery and play area for young children. The grant will fund the services of a nationally-recognized design firm that specializes in natural outdoor play areas as well as initial implementation of the master plan.  Part of the project will be done through a community-build process using local artists, craftsmen, and other individuals and groups to do much of the work.  The main goal is to provide opportunities for young children to explore and play in a natural setting and reap the physical, mental, and emotional benefits that come from their outdoor experiences.

With a $35,000 grant, COMCARE of Sedgwick County will open a third Wichita site for the Proud of Me program.  This program serves young children with challenging behaviors and provides a supportive environment to develop social, emotional, and behavioral skills needed to succeed in school, at home, and in the community.  Proud of Me is designed to teach children ages three to five self-control, conflict resolution, and problem-solving skills in addition to many other skills important for healthy social and emotional development.  The new site is expected to be opened in March.

A grant of $73,160 to the Kansas Parents as Teachers Association, Wichita, will support a two-year training project aimed at improved physical activity and nutrition for young children.  Training for home visitors and child care professionals statewide will include the Parents as Teachers’ research-based curriculum Nutrition and Fitness of Young Children and breastfeeding education.  The grant will also underwrite a speaker from the Ellyn Satter Institute of Indianapolis, Indiana, to provide professional training and a public presentation on the dynamics of the feeding relationship.  Small grants will be available to training participants to help implement improved physical activity and nutrition practices in local programs for children.

Residents of a low-income neighborhood in Wichita will have access to a variety of programs aimed at healthful eating and physical activity with the support of a $55,000 grant to the Urban League of Kansas.  A collaboration of agencies led by the African American Coalition will implement the neighborhood initiative.  Services will be aimed initially at residents of the neighborhood served by Atwater Neighborhood City Hall.  Emile McGill, Manager of the African American Coalition, said the project will help connect young children and their families with a variety of resources for improved nutrition and physical activity.

Rainbows United Charitable Foundation, Wichita, receives $90,000 to use for extraordinary expenses associated with financial management of Rainbows United.  The grant will assist in building the ongoing capacity of Rainbows to accurately track and report financial resources and expenditures.

A $75,000 grant has been awarded to Peace Connections of Newton to support establishment of a new initiative to combat the diseases of poverty.  The Circles™ initiative helps families achieve self-sufficiency by surrounding individual families with community support to develop resources and family stability.  Circles™ is facilitated nationally by the originator of the campaign, Move the Mountain Leadership Center of Ames, Iowa, and has been implemented in more than 40 communities in 18 states.  The Circles™ initiative of Harvey County, the first in Kansas, began in January 2009.  The goal is to move at least 80 families out of poverty by the end of 2013.

The Kansas Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (KACCRRA), Salina, has been awarded $48,083 to implement the Let’s Go Outside project.  Through KACCRRA’s statewide training network, child care professionals and the technical assistance specialists who support them will be offered a series of professional development events focused on playground safety and creating active outdoor learning environments for young children.  Cathy Gray, KACCRRA’s Healthy Kansas Kids Director, said she hopes the increased emphasis on outdoor play will result in increasing physical activity for young children.  “There is a lot of interest in natural outdoor play environments among child care providers,” she explained, “but safety is also a concern.  This grant allows us to bring these two issues together to help child care professionals create improved spaces for outdoor play.”

A $50,000 grant was approved for the Junction City-Geary County Health Department.  In collaboration with the Konza Prairie Health & Dental Center and the Geary County USD 475 School District, the Health Department plans to implement an outreach effort to improve the rate of income-eligible children enrolled in HealthWave medical and dental insurance.  The grant will support hiring an outreach coordinator who will be available to help families navigate the enrollment process.

A grant of $50,000 will help the Montgomery County Community Clinic of Independence plan for needed expansion.  The Independence Public School District #466 Board of Education has authorized a letter of intent to sell the Lincoln Elementary School to the clinic, a state-funded, nonprofit medical clinic for the underserved.  The grant will fund the architectural, mechanical, and engineering analyses of the building to house the clinic as well as other health services.  The potential of part of the building serving as senior housing will also be evaluated.  The studies are expected to be completed in late 2010.

The Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas, Pittsburg, has been awarded a grant of $75,000.  The grant will allow the clinic to provide more comprehensive pediatric services with the addition of a mental health professional to fully integrate behavioral health screening and treatment services within its medical clinic.  The expanded service will primarily serve pediatric patients.  A qualified mental health professional, as a member of the treatment team, will participate in routine medical visits, be readily available for interventions as needed, and coordinate care with in-clinic behavioral health staff and other local providers.

A grant of $53,599 has been awarded to Healthy Kids Challenge, based in Dighton.  Healthy Kids Challenge is partnering with libraries across Kansas to improve healthy eating and physical activity for preschoolers and their families.  Training and support will be offered to local librarians to integrate seeing, hearing, and practicing healthy eating and physical activity into literacy programs aimed at young children and their families.  Claudia Hohnbaum, assistant director for Healthy Kids Challenge, said the initiative focuses on making healthy eating and physical activity fun.  “We don’t want children to think getting healthy and staying healthy is difficult.  It’s naturally fun!  Local libraries are a great place to get that message into Kansas communities,” Hohnbaum explained about the program.

A new safety net dental clinic serving the Ford County area will open in early 2010 under the auspices of the Ford County Oral Health Coalition.  Initial plans call for volunteer dentists to provide services at least four days a month and hygiene services will be made available on a more frequent basis.  The project developed with leadership from the Dodge City Rotary Club.  The Health Fund has awarded $75,000 payable over two years as partial support of the project.  The grant will be administered by the Community Foundation of Southwest Kansas.

The Kansas Association for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health, Topeka, will increase its program of advocacy and services using a $40,000 grant from the Health Fund.  The Association’s endorsement program provides training in early childhood mental health for various workers in early childhood and mental health programs.  This endorsement program receives needed administrative support to permit expansion and funding for additional professional development opportunities through regional trainings and the Association’s annual conference.  The Association also plans to develop an advocacy network to work for public policies improving the social and emotional development of infants and young children.

The Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved, Topeka, has been awarded $75,000 to evaluate health care access throughout the state.  With this grant, new models of integrated care that may offer more cost-effective and comprehensive service delivery will be researched and considered for applicability in Kansas.  The focus of the project will be on the rural and frontier areas of Kansas, where access to affordable health care for underserved populations is especially challenging, according to the organization’s executive director Cathy Harding.  In addition, research will be conducted on the level of public funds spent on health care services on a county by county basis.

TDC Learning Centers will receive a $34,000 grant focused on physical activity and nutrition for more than 200 children enrolled in four Topeka child care centers.  To address the high prevalence of obesity among low-income children and ethnic minority children, TDC plans to launch the Healthy Kids and Families program as a preventive measure to help children and their families develop active lifestyles and nutritious eating habits.  The program will use research-based physical fitness and nutrition curricula and will include a component for parents.

Oral Health Kansas is a Topeka-based coalition representing more than 800 supporters which works to improve oral health in Kansas through advocacy, public awareness, and education.  The coalition’s current work includes Dental Champions leadership training, integration of medical and dental care for elderly Kansans, workforce development, and specific training for professionals to better serve persons with developmental disabilities.  The Health Fund continues its support of Oral Health Kansas with an award of $113,273 in general operating funds for 2010 and 2011.  During this period, Oral Health Kansas anticipates development of advisory groups on additional critical oral health issues facing Kansas and partnerships with local oral health coalitions.

A grant of $100,000 will help support the statewide work of the Kansas Health Consumer Coalition (KHCC) over the next two years.  The Topeka-based advocacy group is dedicated to affordable, accessible, and quality health care in Kansas and works to ensure that consumers make their voices heard in health care debates.  Founded in 2004, the organization has increased its membership to 555 and expects continued growth as more and more Kansans face being uninsured or under-insured.  KHCC Executive Director Corrie Edwards said losing health insurance is one of the consequences of the current economy and is impacting more and more Kansans.  “Our leaders need to hear from the people whose lives are being turned upside-down from medical debt and inaccessible health care as they consider how to improve the current system,” she explained of KHCC’s work.  KHCC is also awarded a separate grant of $10,000 to support the coordination and staffing of Kansans for Better Health.  Kansans for Better Health provides Kansas health reform information and advocacy tools for 80 member organizations and individuals.  The group’s current priority is clean indoor air.

Kansas Donated Dental Services Program will continue providing comprehensive services to disabled and elderly Kansans through the services of volunteer dentists.  A Health Fund grant of $35,000 provides partial operating support for the program through June 2010.  Donated Dental Services served 255 patients with $752,441 worth of donated services in the twelve months ending June 2009.  The program is operated by the Topeka-based Kansas Foundation of Dentistry for the Handicapped, an affiliate of the National Foundation of Dentistry for the Handicapped.

A grant of $79,530 has been awarded to the Kansas Head Start Association, Lawrence, to continue its efforts to assure all Kansas children have access to needed dental care.  An earlier Health Fund grant of $155,760 helped Kansas Cavity Free Kids start in 2008.  The program works with local communities to identify and connect oral health services to young children.  It also provides oral health training to child care providers to help improve day-to-day oral health care.  Kansas Head Start Association represents all 26 Kansas-based Head Start programs, which serve approximately 11,000 children and pregnant women each year.

The Kansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Lenexa, has been awarded two grants totaling $213,000.  The grants will support education and resources for medical practices to provide more comprehensive services to young children.  The first focuses on in-office fluoride varnish treatments to prevent tooth decay.  Through the Cavity Free Kids project, funded by a grant of $150,000, physicians will provide training to other physicians and medical staff on this simple prevention technique.  Program development and operation over three years will be supported by the grant.  A second grant of $63,000 was awarded to encourage early identification and intervention for mental health.  In addition to physician education on screening tools and early intervention resources, the project will develop a web-based statewide resource directory of mental health providers for children.  Both grants focus on giving medical healthcare providers additional tools and resources to address prevention and early identification for their patients’ oral and mental health.

 

Funding and Resources

Healthy Congregations Covenant program offers funding, training, support - deadline is March 1

The Healthy Congregations Covenant program is designed to provide training, funding, and technical support to help Kansas United Methodist churches develop and grow effective, high quality health ministry programs.Covenant program logo

The program offers two participation options to fit churches at different stages of health ministry development and commitment. Both options require churches to send a signed Covenant form in order to qualify for cash payments.

Covenant of Participation - Level One
For churches just starting their health ministry programs or not yet ready to make the greater commitment of the Level Two Covenant, Level One participation provides $100 annually with completion of a simple report.

Covenant of Action - Level Two
Level Two participation includes training of a health ministry team and development of an annual work plan. Each church that commits to completing the seven capacity-building core training courses, submitting an annual work plan, and submitting an annual activity report will be awarded a $1,000 “signing bonus” for program and training support.

Once a Level Two team has achieved “certified” status by completing the core courses within 24 months, the church qualifies for $1,000 cash support each subsequent year by submitting a health ministry activity plan and report by the annual March 1 deadline.

Churches signing up as Level 2 participants will receive an initial $1,000 “signing bonus” for training and program support once their completed Covenant form has been accepted. Details of the new Healthy Congregations Covenant program are available on our website.

Attention church child care programs - training available

How active are our young children these days?  Not as active as you might believe, based on recent studies of child care programs.  Healthy Kansas Kids is a free training program that is helping child care programs rev up the child care day to get young children more active and eating better.  It offers you and your child care volunteers and employees proven techniques for integrating more physical activity and nutrition into your program.  Healthy Kansas Kids is a year-long training opportunity open to licensed part-day or full-day child care programs that serve children from birth to age 8. 

Participating programs receive free in-service training on how to promote healthy eating habits in young children, as well as ways to design and promote physical play indoors and out. On-site technical assistance and mini-grants (up to $500) are other components of the program.  Healthy Kansas Kids is offered statewide through the Kansas Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (KACCRRA) and funded through a grant from the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. 

For eligibility requirements and additional information, please contact the KACCRRA Healthy Kansas Kids Director, Cathy Gray (cathy@kaccrra.org).  The program may fill up fast, so email Cathy soon if you want the children in your care to move more and eat better!

 

Events

Next Healthy Congregations Covenant training session is January 23

The Health Fund is sponsoring a series of regional training courses to help Kansas United Methodist churches develop and grow effective health ministry programs. The trainings include seven "core" courses as well as a number of electives. There is no cost to register or attend, but pre-registration is required.

The courses count toward the training requirements of the Healthy Congregations Covenant program, but a Covenant agreement is not required to attend. If your church may be interested in future participation, or you would just like to learn more about ways to deliver high-quality health ministries, we encourage you to register today.

The 7 Core courses are:

The first training date for 2010 is January 23. Each training day offers four courses (three core and one elective). The trainings are offered at several regional locations throughout the state.

More event information, including a full schedule, a list of elective courses, and online registration, is available at www.healthfund.org/hcctraining.php.

Save the date! Rev. Bill Selby special presentation for Kansas UM clergy April 29

The Rev. Bill Selby, creator of the Center for Pastoral Effectiveness of the Rockies will deliver a special presentation, "Anxious Times call for Non-Anxious Leaders," to interested Kansas United Methodist clergy April 29th from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Rock Springs 4-H Center near Junction City. The presentation addresses issues relating to the anxieties that clergy and church leadership can face from sources both inside and external to the church, and offers Christ-centered techniques for dealing with those anxieties to become a calming influence on the intertwined emotional systems of church, family, and community.

This session, which precedes the Healthy Congregations Retreat, is a separate event for clergy only and is offered free of charge. Lunch will be served at the Rock Springs cafeteria. To participate, register online at healthfund.org after February 1st. An optional dinner and movie will be available for those planning to stay on for the Healthy Congregations Retreat April 30-May 1.

Mark your calendars! Healthy Congregations Retreat April 30-May 1Healthy Congregations Retreat Logo

The ninth annual Healthy Congregations Retreat for United Methodists will be held April 30-May 1, 2010. Save the date on your calendar and look forward to enjoying two days of relaxation, interesting sessions, and networking with friends and peers in the beautiful and peaceful natural setting of Rock Springs 4-H Center, a scenic 735-acre conference site located in the Flint Hills. The retreat is provided free of charge by the Health Fund.

Visit our website to see videos and read comments from participants at previous retreats as they describe the experience in their own words and encourage others not to miss out on this "best-kept secret."

The Rev. Bill Selby is the featured plenary speaker for the 2010 Retreat. Selby is the creator of the Center for Pastoral Effectiveness of the Rockies.

The event brings together United Methodists with shared interests in congregational health ministries and the promotion of holistic health and healthy lifestyles. The retreat features a variety of sessions covering the spiritual, mental, physical, and social components of health.

Who should attend the retreat?

Sessions and workshops offered at this year's Retreat are still being finalized, but will include several of the "Core Courses" needed to fulfill requirements of participation in the Healthy Congregations Level 2 Covenant program.

A $25/person refundable deposit is required for registration; the uncashed deposit check will be returned during check-in.

More event information, including a full schedule and online registration, will be posted at www.healthfund.org/hcar.php as the schedule is finalized.

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