Health Forward Awards More Than $4 Million in Safety Net Grants

Date: December 10, 2014
Contact: Jennifer Sykes
Phone: 816-241-7006
KANSAS CITY, MO – The Health Forward Foundation (Health Forward) has awarded 31 nonprofit organizations a total of $4,085,176 in 2014 safety net funding. These grants promote the development of a health and oral health care delivery system that provides easy access to quality health care, resulting in better health, better care and lower cost.

“Health Forward is proud to support these organizations who are working to implement models of service delivery for physical and oral health that increase access and hold the promise of delivering better health, better health care and lowered costs through improved quality,” said Bridget McCandless, M.D., Health Forward President/CEO.

In June 2014, Health Forward released its Safety Net Requests for Proposals (RFP). The Foundation received a total of 54 proposals totaling approximately $8.9 million in requests. The following grants were awarded during the December Board of Directors meeting:

Agency Amount Awarded Project Description
Baptist-Trinity Lutheran Legacy Foundation $75,000 To provide short-term, emergency medical assistance to low-income, underinsured and uninsured individuals.
Cancer Action, Inc. $85,000 To provide vital patient services, guidance, emotional support and education to cancer patients living in the Kansas City metropolitan area. These services will help reduce distress and improve the quality of life for those with cancer in our community.
Cass Community Health Foundation $111,853 To support a full-time and part-time dentist that will provide oral health services to Medicaid and low-income, uninsured children.
Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas, Inc. $170,000 To support the provision of primary medical, dental and support services to the low-income, uninsured and underserved of Allen County at CHC/SEK’s Iola Clinic.
Cornerstones of Care $150,000 To provide nurse case management services for children in foster care in Cass County and to provide psychotropic medication review and consultation for the nurse case management programs in Cass and Jackson counties in Missouri.
Duchesne Clinic $225,000 To provide bilingual, primary health care, chronic disease management, preventive care, patients education, medication assistance and care coordination for the uninsured poor in Wyandotte County.
El Centro, Inc. $133,613 To support the Health Navigation program in both Wyandotte and Johnson Counties, which provides culturally-competent health navigation to underinsured and uninsured people.
Jewish Family Services $54,547 To expand JFS’s capacity to provide older adult care management services. This includes funding for a care manager and a fund for direct client assistance for out-of-pocket medical expenses (e.g., home modifications, access to durable medical equipment, vision and dental care). Funds will also support a United Way 211 older adult specialist.
Jewish Vocational Service $45,000 To support the position of the refugee healthcare coordinator who assists new refugees in navigating their care.
Kansas City CARE Clinic $300,000 To support the general medicine and oral health programs of the Kansas City CARE Clinic. These programs improve access to high-quality and culturally-competent medical and dental care for underserved adults, with a focus on patients with chronic diseases.
Kansas University Endowment Association $60,176 To expand services available through the KU Department of Family Medicine affiliated clinic located at Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kan., using telemedicine systems and equipment.
Kansas University Endowment Association $35,800 JayDoc Free Clinic provides needed care for one of the most vulnerable populations in the metropolitan area: the poor and underserved of Wyandotte County. Through the work of this clinic, low-income Wyandotte County residents will have improved access to high-quality health care, which can reduce the overall cost to the health system while providing a service-learning opportunity to students in multiple medical professions.
KU Health Partners, Inc. $100,000 To support ongoing operations of Silver City Health Center as a nurse-managed, patient-centered medical home for the medically underserved in Kansas City, Kan.
Legal Aid of Western Missouri $113,010 Legal Aid will use its experience to continue to advocate for low-income individuals and families who have been improperly denied insurance in the Missouri marketplace under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or who have been improperly denied coverage by their ACA insurance plan for specific medical treatment. Program staff will also help residents access MO Healthnet under expanded terms of eligibility.
Mattie Rhodes Center $83,732 MRC proposes partnering with Samuel U. Rodgers in establishing a Northeast and Westside Community Health Program. Grant funds will be used to support a community health advocate, a community health worker, and on-site health screenings dedicated to ensuring that the uninsured, predominantly Latino population has access to needed health services.
Migrant Farmworkers Assistance Fund $92,658 To provide medical case management to underserved and uninsured migrant and seasonal farmworkers in rural Lafayette County, Mo., to ensure these individuals acquire health care services they would otherwise not be able to access.
ReDiscover $200,000 To support the demand for health care home services for uninsured clients by providing critical start-up salary support for clinical and medical directors.
reStart, Inc. $93,810 To provide care coordination and health benefits advocacy to homeless men and women in our adult emergency shelter program.
Riverview Health Services, Inc. $155,021 To allow Riverview to sustain and expand services that increase access to health care for the uninsured and underinsured by providing referrals to safety net clinics, providing medication and medical supplies, and by providing chronic disease (mostly diabetes) education and self-management support.
Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City $200,000 To support the care coordination program that uses community health workers to engage with patients with multiple barriers to care in order to improve each patient’s capacity for better overall health.
Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City $100,000 To support radiation therapy for uninsured cancer patients referred to Saint Luke’s from Truman Medical Center.
Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center Foundation, Inc. $100,000 To ensure that pregnant indigent minority women have access to quality prenatal care. SURHC has reached a critical point in the delivery of OB/GYN health care services for indigent minority women in our community who have lost their Medicaid coverage. This grant will provide much needed funds to address the loss of Medicaid reimbursement for women who otherwise may not seek prenatal care.
Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center $200,000 The Community-Centered Care Initiative is a partnership between Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center (SURHC), Truman Medical Centers (TMC), and Housing Authority of Kansas City (HAKC) to address problems of access to health care for public housing residents in Chouteau Courts and Riverview Gardens. The initiative will test a range of innovative ideas and models. Outcomes include improved health of target population; reduced unnecessary emergency department visits and hospital admissions; increased access to appropriate and timely care; and, ultimately, reduced costs.
Seton Center Family & Health Services $250,000 To provide professional staffing, needy funds, equipment, and program support for oral health care for the uninsured and vulnerable, including low-income children, the working poor, older adults, mentally ill, the homeless, and racial and ethnic minorities in the greater Kansas City area.
Southwest Boulevard Family Health Care Services of Greater Kansas City $250,000 This grant will help to sustain safety net health care services — including primary care, dentistry, and supportive services for a medically underserved population, who primarily live in the urban core of Wyandotte County, Kan.
Swope Health Services $50,000 This grant will 1) enable Swope Health Services to maintain its capacity to provide dental services for 7200 low-income, uninsured and underinsured residents of the Kansas City metropolitan area by retaining a full-time dentist and a full-time dental assistant; and 2) add a care coordinator that will assist 300 patients with chronic illnesses in accessing the integrated dental and medical services they need.
Synergy Services, Inc. $114,000 To support Synergy’s Homeless Youth Campus onsite health clinic’s key staff positions and a portion of the medical and dental partners’ contracts.
The Children’s Mercy Hospital $100,000 To support clinical staff who provide comprehensive care for children with complex, chronic, special health-care needs.
Truman Medical Center Charitable Foundation $96,956 To support a licensed master social worker to improve perinatal mental health outcomes for 125 women and their families through screening, care coordination, and provider and consumer awareness.
Turner House Clinic Inc. $225,000 To enable Turner House to provide coordinated and integrated primary medical care, chronic care and preventive oral health care for uninsured and underserved children in Wyandotte County, Kan.
West Central Missouri Community Action Agency $115,000 To provide reproductive health services and STD testing and treatment to men and women that are low-income and/or uninsured.
Safety Net grants are the final round of funding in 2014.

For more information on applying for 2015 Health Forward Foundation Defined Grants, visit www.healthforward.org.