Responding to Health Care Needs in Our Community
FSaint Joseph Health Center and St. Mary's Hospital of Blue Springs have a long history of healing in Kansas City. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet came to Kansas City in 1874 with a vision and opened the first private hospital west of the Mississippi. Today, their mission con-tinues—not just within Carondelet Health facilities, but also throughout the Kansas City community.
"The Saint Joseph Health Center Foundation is dedicated to the mission of Carondelet Health to provide compass- ionate, quality healthcare for body, mind and spirit, with a special concern for the poor," says Kate Marshall, executive director of the foundation. "One of the ways we do that is through our COMMUNITY PARTNERS program."
COMMUNITY PARTNERS provides medications and supplies to several clinics throughout the five county area including: Catholic Charities, Kansas City Free Health Clinic, Samuel U. Rodgers Clinic, Redemptorist Church, Health Source of Grandview, Duchesne Clinic in Kansas City, Kansas, and the Health Partnership of Johnson County.
"Being able to provide the needed medications for our program is at the heart of our care," says Harriet Duff, executive director of Health Partnership of Johnson County. It is the only not-for-profit clinic serving low-income, uninsured residents of Johnson County. Medical professionals volunteer their time.
"For our patients, getting a diagnosis is pointless if they cannot afford the med-ications that will treat their illnesses," says Duff. "Saint Joseph Health Center Foundation has for years provided invaluable support to the Kansas City Free Health Clinic," says Sheri Wood, executive director. "Without the support of the Foundation, they would go away without their medicines and become even sicker, ending up in an emergency room or hospital for a condition that, if treated early would have been resolved."
"Duchesne Clinic's partnership with Saint Joseph Health Center Foundation has been a longstanding relationship that enables us to serve the less fortunate among us, the uninsured poor," says Sister Ann McGuire, Executive Director of Duchesne Clinic. "Saint Joseph Health Center Foundation's commitment to its mission truly carries on the Gospel mandate of serving one another."
"One of the barriers to improving health care is the cost associated with prescription drugs," says Ben Pettus, Executive Director of the Samuel U. Rodgers Community Health Center. "Because of the high cost of pharmaceuticals, many of our patients would opt not to fill their prescriptions if the assistance provided by Saint Joseph Health Center Foundation was not available."
"Today, 40 million Americans are without health insurance," says Marshall. "The service that Saint Joseph Health Center Foundation provides through generous donations from individual, corporations and organizations is needed now more than ever. Every donation is very much appreciated."
For more info about COMMUNITY PARTNERS or other giving opportunities, contact the Saint Joseph Health Center Foundation at 816.943.2671.