Catherine Gordon
Catherine Gordon, C.N.M., M.S.N., targets a challenging goal: improving the world, especially for women and children. Yet the multi-talented Gordon has done much to accomplish that ambition. In 1995, she founded and continues to operate the Mercy & Truth Medical Missions, a clinic that serves the underserved and uninsured population of Greater Kansas City. She is also leader of the Mission’s effort to provide medical volunteers and supplies in 21 countries.
As a family nurse practitioner and midwife, Gordon has earned the Kansas City Nursing Association’s Nurse Volunteer of the Year Award. This honor is awarded annually to a registered nurse who contributes to social or civic organizations that benefit citizens or communities through volunteer services.
Gordon’s volunteer activities are significant. She serves on the Board of Directors for Avenue of Life, which promotes revitalization of Bethany Medical Center. She served as a founder and board member for the Sage Femme Birth Center of Kansas City. and has served as a member of the education team for Shawnee Mission Medical Center. She volunteers as a healthcare educator for elementary and secondary students, and is conference coordinator of the "Caring for the Nations Conference." Outside of health care, Gordon has served on the Evangelism Task Force Advisory Board.
Chris Likens
Within the first year of the Helping Hands Foundation, Chris Likens has inspired a legacy of giving. His sons Brad and Greg, young successful businessmen in their own rights, serve as Directors of the Foundation, painstakingly considering each application for assistance. Helping Hands offers one-time grants to individuals to assist them in maintaining their independence, or to bridge the gap between a crisis and their ability to move on again
The contagious nature of service that the Foundation has stimulated has inspired others to find creative ways to identify need and help our neighbors. Nominations for grants have come from employers, teachers, fireman, neighbors, clergy and healthcare professionals.
Throughout the year Likens has become painfully aware of the needs that exist in Kansas City and that go unmet through conventional means. Many of these needs revolve around health issues, adaptive equipment and dental care, education, job loss, and displaced homemakers.
Several of the grants include a $22,000 electric wheelchair for a quadriplegic woman who didn’t qualify for assistance because she chose to remain independent and work; reconstructive surgery for a teen with a birth defect, transportation to an out-of-state hospital for life saving surgery for a father and housing for his family while undergoing transplant surgery and recovery. Susan Wise, executive director, said since its creation a year ago, the thing that impressed her the most was the way Helping Hands has inspired others in the community to reach out and lend a helping hand.
“I think it has also drawn attention to people that we need to become more aware of the needs of our neighbors,” Wise said. “Some people can offer their assistance, time and others can offer their compassion.”
Cameron Lindsey
In a feat of caring for patients with chronic illnesses, Cameron C. Lindsey, PharmD, B.C.-A.D.M., created the Patient Medication Assistance Program for the Jackson County Free Health Clinic, a program of the Truman Heartland Community Foundation, where she has volunteered since its inception in 2000.
Since that time, some 300 patients at the clinic have received more than $650,000 worth of medication donated by pharmaceutical companies. The program is so successful that it has been expanded to include more than 30 University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Pharmacy students to increase their service learning.
The program is designed to use patient assistance programs offered by many pharmaceutical companies for low-income, non-insured patients to provide them with free medication. Paperwork, including gathering supporting documentation—tax forms, check stubs, letters of denial from Medicaid—is completed by the volunteers and a database is maintained to track when refills should be requested. The program is staffed by volunteers of Kappa Epsilon, a professional pharmaceutical fraternity, with Dr. Lindsey serving as an advisor.
“We’re very proud of Cameron and the accomplishments that have been made through her professional volunteer work,” said Paul Thomson, Ph.D., President/CEO of the Truman Heartland Community Foundation. “Cameron also wrote and implemented a diabetes education program for which we were awarded a grant of $5,000. This program offers two hours of classes on nutrition, glucose monitoring and free glucose test strips for the clients of the clinic.”
Her full time paid position is that of Clinical Assistant Professor at UMKC School of Pharmacy. Lindsey also maintains a clinical/teaching practice at the VA Medical Center in Kansas City.