KANSAS CITY, MO – The Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City (HCF) has awarded 37 Safety Net grants totaling $5.2 million. The grants range in services from providing prescription assistance, to improving access to oral health care to core operating support for most of the area safety net health care clinics.
“We are in the midst of an unprecedented time. Just this year alone millions of middle class Americans fell into the ranks of the uninsured resulting in an increase in demand for access to safety net clinics, mental health care, oral health care, prescriptions, medical goods and supplies,” said Steve Roling, President/CEO of the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City. “The Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City is proud to award safety net grants to nonprofit organizations in our service area that are working tirelessly everyday to meet this demand and provide quality health care regardless of ability to pay.”
HCF released its Safety Net Request for Proposals in June. The Foundation received a total of 88 proposals totaling nearly $16 million in requests. The following grants were selected by a team of external reviewers from outside the HCF service area and awarded at the November HCF Board of Directors meeting.
| Agency | Amount Awarded | Project Description |
| Baptist – Trinity Lutheran Legacy Foundation | $86,467 | To support the Kansas City Medicine Cabinet. The Kansas City Medicine Cabinet provides emergency medical assistance to low income uninsured and underserved individuals in the metro area. In 2011, the Cabinet will provide medical services to up to 2,500 clients. |
| Black Health Care Coalition Partners: Missouri Area Health Education Centers, Family Hope Center, Med Assist Pharmacy |
$72,237 | To support the “Healthy Generations...Pass it On!” which is a culturally competent, evidence-based program to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease among inner city residents of Kansas City, Missouri. |
| Cancer Action, Inc. | $46,467 | To provide prescription assistance, nutritional supplements, transportation assistance and case management support to cancer patients living in some of the most medically underserved areas in the five county region of Greater Kansas City. |
| Catholic Charities of Kansas City – St Joseph Partners: Truman Medical Center Lakewood, Samuel U. Rodgers Community Health Center, Seton Center Family and Health Services, Swope Health Services-Blue Parkway Clinic, UMKC School of Dentistry |
$171,732 | To expand existing services to provide affordable pre-denture and dentures services for up to 200 medically indigent seniors and persons with disabilities in Kansas City, Jackson, Cass and Lafayette Counties of Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte Counties in Kansas. |
| Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas | $65,000 | To provide health intervention for infants at risk of compromised health as a result of medical, environmental, economic or social circumstances, as well as their mothers. Pediatric nurses and/or medical social workers then provide home health intervention, including postpartum and preventive care visits or supplies as needed. |
| Child Abuse Prevention Association | $89,000 | To provide trauma-focused mental health treatment for child victims of abuse and non-offending family members; provide prevention-focused in-home case management for parents of young children who are at risk of child maltreatment, provide bi-lingual services, and continue to provide a helpline and crisis assistance to clients. |
| Child Protection Center, Inc Partner: City of Raytown Police Department |
$125,000 | To support staffing to provide forensic interviews, education for non-offending caretakers, crisis intervention and referrals for social supports to victims of child and their families. |
| Communities Creating Opportunities | $119,000 | To develop a Health Reform Implementation Taskforce to educate people about how reform will impact their families and bring the benefits of reform home to Kansas City. |
| Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas | $94,813 | To provide preventative, restorative and emergency dental services at the clinic in Iola, KS and on-site in schools and Head Starts in Allen County. Additionally, it conducts community outreach and education services such as providing oral health screening, applying fluoride varnish and speaking to community groups about the importance of good oral health. |
| Duchesne Clinic | $185,000 | To support Duchesne Clinic which offers a wide range of services, including primary care, some on-site specialty care, and medication assistance. |
| Greater Kansas City LINC Partner: Swope Health Services |
$320,000 | To provide medical and nursing personnel for the Caring Communities Clinic in south Kansas City, Missouri. |
| Harvesters - The Community Food Network | $227,273 | To support staff salaries and benefits, fuel and transportation costs and program supplies directly associated with helping Harvesters distribute food. These funding improvements will result in 36.7 million pounds of food being distributed in this area by 2011 and allow 620 non-profit organizations to acquire food in order to provide groceries and meals to those in need. |
| Hope House, Inc. | $85,000 | To help domestic violence victims in receiving adequate resources and referrals to meet their health needs and increase their ability to adequately address those health needs and those of their children. |
| Jewish Family Services | $69,835 | To provide care coordination and direct financial assistance to improve access to medical care for low-income, uninsured and underinsured individuals. |
| Kansas City Free Health Clinic | $425,000 | To support the General Medicine and Dental programs to serve approximately 7,000 unduplicated patients during 2011. |
| Kansas University Endowment Association | $100,000 | To support the core operations of the Silver City Clinic, a nurse-run community based health center that is affiliated with KU Schools of Nursing and Allied Health. |
| Kansas University Endowment Association - Medical/Legal Family Health Project | $77,920 | To support the Medical-Legal Family Health Project at the JayDoc Free Clinic. The project uses law students to improve patient health by solving client’s legal problems. |
| Legal Aid of Western Missouri Partners: Children’s Mercy Hospital, University of Kansas Work Group for Community Health and Development, Marni Vilet Strategy |
$300,000 | To continue and expand a program that provides brief legal consultations or referrals to at least 150 patients per year, maintains a routine training program for medical staff, and partners with the KU Work Group in the implementation of their evaluation of this program. |
| Mattie Rhodes Center | $250,000 | To provide culturally competent mental health services to 540 Spanish-speaking individuals. |
| Metropolitan Community College Foundation | $55,000 | To provide start-up funding for the Collaboration Works, a non-profit organization north of the river that provides medical equipment and supplies to low-income consumers at a dramatically reduced suggested donation. Collaboration Works will partner with the Metropolitan Community Colleges to create an access point at MCC's newly-created Health Sciences Institute. In addition to providing consumers reduced cost medical goods and supplies, the MCC location will provide and opportunity for nursing and allied health students to educate clients on proper usage of the medical goods. |
| Metropolitan Organizations to Counter Sexual Assault | $85,000 | To support staffing costs to help improve the overall health status of victims of sexual assault, with particular focus on victims within traditionally underserved populations by eliminating barriers to accessing resources and improving health and safety. |
| Operation Breakthrough | $105,450 | To provide staffing support for the Oral Health Program which provides preventive services and corrective care to children and families whose oral health needs are neglected. |
| Phoenix Family Housing Corporation Partner: Southwest Boulevard Family Healthcare |
$58,123 | To support the Healthcare Outreach and Prevention Project (HOPP), which focuses on improving healthcare access and decreasing the health disparities for residents living in Rosedale Ridge, a low-income housing community. |
| ReDiscover | $135,000 | To expand and sustain a client-centered, integrated treatment model in which the psychiatric, addiction and physical health conditions of battered women and children are treated concurrently. |
| reStart | $132,158 | To provide a Health Coordinator and Case Manager to provide health care education and health benefits advocacy to more than 200 homeless individuals and families. |
| Riverview Health Services | $150,000 | To provide underserved individuals intensive, culturally appropriate diabetes self-management education, medications, supplies and medical testing. |
| Saint Luke's Cancer Institute | $118,950 | To provide uninsured radiation oncology patients radiation treatment. |
| Seton Center Family and Health Services | $115,000 | To improve access to dental care for low-income children includes fillings, root canals, diagnostic exams, crowns and dentures. |
| Somali Foundation | $100,000 | To assist approximately 300 to 375 unduplicated clients with medical interpretation/translation and transportation and allow 60 to 100 unduplicated clients receive education about health issues as diverse as HIV/AIDS, diabetes, stroke, heart disease and nutrition. |
| Southwest Boulevard Family Health Care Services of Greater Kansas City | $378,000 | To support the clinic in providing medical, dental and supportive services at the main clinic site on Southwest Blvd; dental referrals and social work services at Quindaro satellite; expanded prenatal and obstetrical services, which leverage additional provider resources through the KU Family Medicine Residency Program; continued development of obesity and obesity-related programs and services; and care for HIV/Hepatitis C and other serious chronic diseases. |
| Sunflower House, Inc. | $60,415 | To provide on-site, comprehensive medical exams to alleged victims of child abuse and services to their families. |
| Swope Health Services | $75,000 | To continue to provide dental services ranging from preventive services, including cleanings and sealants, to treatment, including fillings, tooth extractions, crowns, and dentures. |
| Synergy Services, Inc. | $175,000 | To help operate an Onsite Mental, Medical and Dental Clinic for vulnerable and at risk youth. The purpose of the Youth Resiliency Center's onsite clinic is to be a patient-centered medical home that reduces barriers to getting care by providing preventative, integrated and comprehensive quality mental, medical, and dental health services to homeless and runaway youth. |
| Truman Heartland Community Foundation - Jackson County Free Health Clinic | $50,000 | To support a Clinic Coordinator to provide chronic disease management services to medically indigent patients at the Jackson County Free Health Clinic. |
| Turner House Clinic | $250,000 | To provide operation support for primary health services to low-income children in Wyandotte County. |
| Unified Government of Wyandotte, Public Health Department Partners: Kansas Children’s Service League-Healthy Families Wyandotte and Johnson County |
$127,160 | To support staffing for the Healthy Families Wyandotte County & Healthy Families Johnson County project. This project will work with families of infants to provide referrals, direct services and access to care that is affordable, accessible, culturally competent and responsive to their needs. |
| West Central Missouri Community Action Agency | $150,000 | To continue and enhance women's health services in Cass County. HCF funding will provide for additional staff time and general operational support for health exams, including medical supplies, prescription drugs and HIV testing as well as community health education. |
The Safety Net grants are the final Foundation Defined Grants (FDGs) awarded by the Foundation in 2010. Deadlines for 2011 funding can be found on HCF’s website. For more information, visit HCF’s website at www.healthcare4kc.org.
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ABOUT HCF
The Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City provides leadership, advocacy and resources that eliminate barriers to quality health for the uninsured and underserved in Kansas City, Missouri, Cass, Jackson and Lafayette counties in Missouri and Allen, Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas. Since it began grantmaking in 2005, HCF has awarded over $100 million to agencies addressing health needs in the community. For more information, visit www.healthcare4kc.org.