Volume 1, Issue 8 | August 2022 |
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Our Monthly News & Updates |
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Barton County LHEAT Partners with Local Hair Studios for Children's Back-to-School Haircut Event |
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New backpack? Check. School supplies? Check. A stylish haircut? Barton County LHEAT has you covered.
On August 5, Barton County LHEAT and CHW worked closely with volunteer hair stylists to offer back-to-school haircuts for children 17 and under. Three local hair studios enthusiastically participated in this event, including Furbs Hair Studio and Lox Salon in Great Bend and 5th Street Hair Studio in Ellinwood. A total of 108 children's haircuts were provided.
Callie Miller, Barton County LHEAT Lead and Executive Director of Housing Opportunities, Inc., wrote that this event serviced families who may not have the time or budget, especially when inflation rates remain high. One family with four teenagers, who had never had a professional haircut, got to experience it for the very first time at this event.
"It was so amazing to see some of the transformations and how some of the kids lit up after their haircuts," said Miller.
The event was not possible without partnering salons' support. Hair stylists in Lox Salon and 5th Street Hair Studio generously donated their time and space for the event. Lox Salon also helped the event gain traction. Furbs Hair Studio's strong connection to the Latino Community also helped LHEAT reach another key population.
Barton County LHEAT purchased local Chamber of Commerce gift cards to thank the volunteer stylists. The event budget, including the gift cards and miscellaneous expenses, was about $650.
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Lox Salon (pictured left) and Furbs Hair Studio (pictured right) in Great Bend, Kansas are two participating salons of this event. 5th Street Hair Studio in Ellinwood (not pictured) also participated.
Courtesy photos: Callie Miller
Callie Miller and Nadine Long contributed reporting
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A view of the White Cloud Health Fair |
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COPE Conducts Health Screenings and Outreach at the White Cloud Health Fair |
Many COPE members actively participated in the White Cloud Health Fair, the first annual post-COVID health fair hosted by the White Cloud Health Center on August 11.
Drs. Kevin Sykes, K. Allen Greiner and COPE partners (Heart to Heart International) conducted various types of health screenings. Sykes led a team of researchers and conducted hearing screening and smell testing. The importance of screening should not be underestimated. "Smell testing is a key indicator of cognitive function," said Sykes. Dr. Greiner conducted blood pressure and worked with Heart to Heart International staff to conduct a blood test called A1C to measure the average blood sugar levels to identify pre-diabetes.
The fair was where the community could come together to learn about health. It provided COPE ample opportunities to interact with community members who may benefit from COPE's service. Ton Miras Neira (CHW Project Manager), Johnny Curtis-Parker (CHW Supervisor with a home base in NEK-CAP, Inc.), Karla Greiger (CHW of Brown/Jackson County) and Stevie Goodpasture (CHW of Brown/Jackson County) were there to raise awareness of and promote COPE.
Courtesy photos: Ton Miras Neira
Ton Miras Neira contributed reporting
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Dr. Greiner talking with a staff from Heart to Heart International, one of COPE's key partners, at the fair |
COPE representatives at the fair with our crucial partner, NEK-CAP, Inc. (Northeast Kansas Community Action Program) |
Zrinka Vuksan (international medical student from Croatia), Karla Greiger (CHW) and Ton Miras Neira (CHW Project Manager) are one of the many COPE members representing at the fair.
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Sedgwick County LHEAT Proudly Supports Populations Served by the International Rescue Committee |
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Kameelah Alexander (LHEAT lead of Sedgwick County), Thien Doan (CHW of Sedgwick County) and Lakia Dupree (CHW of Sedgwick County) visited International Rescue Committee (IRC) on August 17.
LHEAT made the decision to financially support populations that the IRC serves, including families or individuals who have recently sought refuge or immigrated to central Kansas as well as victims of human trafficking.
LHEAT will grant each individual or family up to $80 for food and hygiene items. Funds will be made available either through Walmart gift cards or through foods (including halal meat) and spices available at two local grocery stores (i.e., Lucky Asian Market and Asian Grocery). The team was excited to make this investment to support our neighbors new to Sedgwick County.
Courtesy photos: Kameelah Alexander
Nadine Long contributed reporting
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An Action-Packed August for Seward County
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Gaby Urquidi, Seward County LHEAT, and CHWS Volunteer at Back-to-School Hot Dog and Haircut Night |
Capitalizing on the existing community events has been one of the ways that LHEATs and CHWs bring visibility to COPE.
To that end, Seward County LHEAT and CHWs have steadily engaged in a stream of events hosted by the county, the most recent being the back-to-school hot dog and haircut night at the Sunflower Elementary School, which is located in a historically under-resourced area, on August 18.
Ten local stylists from different salons volunteered their time to give professional haircut services to more than 130 children. Gaby Urquidi, one of the first community members to join Seward County LHEAT, is pictured here with a child.
Julie Foster and Laura Enriquez (CHW of Seward County) also were at the event. They introduced COPE to the community, handed out COVID-19 information and at-home test kits and invited members to the upcoming vaccine clinic planned and funded by Seward County LHEAT.
To help children relax before their haircut, they also handed out hand sanitizer and play-doh as a reward for staying still.
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A Consistent Effort to Engage with Community College Students |
To promote Seward County LHEAT's self-funded vaccine clinic, CHWs in Seward County continue to capitalize on its ongoing relationship with the Seward County Community College (SCCC) campus populations.
On August 12, Foster and Susan Lukwago announced the upcoming vaccine clinic information while distributing 20 COVID-19 at-home test kits. The team also provided Spanish and English versions of the flyer.
Clarissa Carillo Martinez and Karina Vazquez also visited SCCC to share information about CHWs and resources with which CHWs can assist the community. Vazquez can be seen in the top picture interacting with students.
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Foster and Lukwago at SCCC |
Carillo Martinez and Karina Vazquez at SCCC |
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Vaccine Clinic in Collaboration with Health Department Takes Place on August 20 |
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Brenda Jaramillo, a staff at the Health Department, at the front desk registering potential vaccine recipients |
Vaccine flyer in Spanish and English |
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Elzaeth Crespin was one of the winners. Vaccine recipients were entered into the raffle after they received vaccines. |
Vaccine clinic, funded by Seward County LHEAT and in collaboration with Seward County Health Department, took place in time before the back-to-school season.
"30 families received vaccines," according to Lukwago.
This event was not possible without the team's consistent effort in promoting across the county as well as support from the local Health Department and Liberal Area Coalition for Families (LACF).
Courtesy photos: Julie Foster, Clarissa Carrillo Martinez, Seward County Health Department
Julie Foster and Clarissa Carrillo Martinez contributed reporting
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Report of Our Community-led Distribution of COVID-19 At-Home Tests in 20 Counties is Now Available |
In January, COPE executed a 20-county-wide distribution of 22,500 COVID-19 at-home test kits during the peak of the Omicron variant wave. Now the report is available here on our website.
Here is the upshot: 81% of the tests were given to 152 community-based organizations; 19% were given to individuals and families.
The effort was not possible without leveraging existing relationships to facilitate distributions.
We want to express our gratitude to the volunteers and staff who participated in the planning, preparation and distribution of these test kits.
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Ford County CHWs Form a Long-Term Partnership with National Beef |
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The Ford County CHW team has formed a lasting partnership with National Beef in Dodge City, visiting the company twice a month to provide education and resources on a particular topic each visit.
The topic on July 14 was drug and alcohol abuse as well as the negative impact the abuse has on one's body. Angela Scott (CHW Field Supervisor), Thien Doan (Sedgwick County CHW), Goretti (Maria) Sanchez (Ford County CHW) and Gloria Calderon (CHW Supervisor of Ford County) were in attendance.
In previous events, National Beef representatives also documented this collaboration by taking photos of the COPE team in action.
Courtesy photos: Angela Scott
Angela Scott contributed reporting
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Seward County CHW Gives Back to the Community through "Stuff the Bus" |
School supplies are essential in facilitating learning. But, they are getting more expensive for parents and guardians to purchase for their school-aged children due to a record high inflation rate.
With a new school season approaching, Seward County CHW Julie Foster saw an urgent need to land a helping hand to support 'Stuff the Bus," a collection event sponsored by the Seward County United Way. They stationed outside of Walmart on July 30 to collect supplies, such as paper, pencils, pens, folders, glue, eraser, etc., as well as monetary donation.
The Seward County United Way is one of the partners that COPE CHWs have fostered. Volunteering in the event like this helps CHWs maintain a close relationship with a key partner but also makes their work more visible in the community.
Courtesy photos: Julie Foster
Julie Foster contributed reporting
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Angela Scott and Thien Doan Attend Hope Fest in Harvey County |
Attending local resource festivals is one of the ways community residents could learn about how to connect with various community resources. COPE also knows this is one of the ways to directly engage with local residents and build partnerships.
On July 23, Angela Scott (CHW Field Supervisor) and Thien Doan (CHW of Sedgwick County) represented COPE at HopeFest. Several community-based organizations (including non-profit organizations) and clinics were there to provide COVID-19 at home test kits, health screenings, educational materials and resource guides to the local residents. The event organizer also provided free food and drinks, giveaways and games.
Courtesy photos: Angela Scott
Angela Scott contributed reporting
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Rainwater Harvesting is Underway in Labette County |
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Relentless summer heat waves in Kansas this year have made gardening a difficult task. Proper watering could help. But with a typical hot and often dry summer climate that is characteristic of the Great Plains, what could one do? |
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Jody Hoener (COPE Southeast Regional Community Lead and CEO of Healthy Bourbon County Action Team) and Bourbon County LHEAT recently supported another community garden located on the lot south of First Christian Church to install rain barrels to harvest rainwater.
John Dranchak (Master Gardner) in Labette County wrote to report that the three installed rain barrels quickly became full after heavy rain on August 3. This helps make gardeners' job much easier while mitigating water shortage.
Courtesy photos: John Dranchak
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I am Callie Miller, the LHEAT Lead for Barton County. In 2014, I graduated from American Public University with my Bachelor’s in accounting and in 2019 I received my Master’s in personal financial planning from Kansas State University.
Currently, I am the Executive Director for Housing Opportunities, Inc. (HOI) where we build, own, and manage low-income housing in multiple communities across Kansas. I have been at HOI for over 8 years and am proud to be part of a non-profit organization that can contribute to the communities the way that we do.
Being part of COPE has educated me on all the different resources available and the amazing organizations that our community has to offer. It has been beyond exciting to make an impact in Barton County and help bring awareness and opportunity to the forefront. I have a true passion for helping people am fortunate enough to do so through my career, but now COPE has made it
possible to do that even more.
I enjoy spending all the time I can with my two daughters, Trinity and Trystan, as well as the rest of my family. We love to travel, ride motorcycles, and spend time camping at the lake. I was born and raised in La Crosse, Kansas growing up with a family who farms and runs a trucking company. I chose to remain close to home to be around family as much as possible. Seeing the impact on communities so close to where I was raised is such a blessing!
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We love to hear from you! Share any noteworthy stories and activities you'd like for us to include in our future newsletters. |
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Great Bend Post Features Barton County's LHEAT Event |
On July 28, Great Bend Post, a premier local news source for Great Bend residents, promoted Barton County LHEAT's free haircut event on its website. Barton County LHEAT Lead, Callie Miller, has fostered a positive working relationship with Great Bend reporters through her position as Executive Director of Housing Opportunities, Inc., and her current role as the LHEAT lead.
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Brown/Jackson County Johnny Curtis-Parker (CHW Supervisor), Stevie Goodpasture (CHW) and Karla Geiger (CHW) joined the Community Baby and Early Childhood Expo on August 7. The Brown/Jackson team was able to network with sponsors and many hospital care team members, including Amberwell Hospital, UnitedHealthcare-Community Plan of Kansas and Brown County Health Department.
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Barton LHEAT participated in the After the Harvest Parade in Ellinwood on July 16. LHEAT members handed out COPE branded reusable water bottles that included CHW's contact information. LHEAT members also inserted a community resource guide inside the bottles.
Courtesy photos: Nadine Long
Nadine Long contributed reporting
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Thien Doan (CHW of Sedgwick County) participated in an open house event at Leaf Teahouse in Wichita. At this event, Doan provided information about COPE to Left Teahouse customers on how he could help them connect to multiple resources in the community.
Thanks to Angela Scott, COPE CHW Field Supervisor, for sharing this with us!
Courtesy photo: Thien Doan
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The Power of 450 Hygiene Kits |
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COPE and JUNTOS Center for Advancing Latino Health volunteered at Heart to Heart International in Lenexa to assemble 450 hygiene kits comprised of everyday necessities, such as toothbrush, toothpaste, bar soap, shampoo, comb, nail clipper and facecloth. The kit also included an insert instructing how to stay healthy by washing hands properly. Heart to Heart International will distribute part of the kits at the White Cloud Health Fair in Brown County.
Courtesy photos: Christina Pacheco
Christina Pacheco contributed reporting
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COPE Forges A Partnership with Fourth Trimester Initiative |
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Ton Mirás Neira (CHW Project Manager) attended a meeting hosted by Advent Health in Johnson County in late August to solidify a relationship with Fourth Trimester Initiative (FTI), a collaboration between Kansas Department of Health and Environment and Kansas Prenatal Quality Collaborative (KPQC). Its mission is to "engage and empower patients – as well as their families, support systems, providers, and Kansas communities – to intentionally intervene and improve maternal health outcomes with a collective, inspired effort."
"The focus of the meeting was to develop internal workflows for different FTI hospitals, present the CHW workflow, and connect different team members from Johnson and Wyandotte County, including the CHW teams," said Mirás Neira.
COPE's partnership with FTI is crucial. According to a non-profit news operation Kansas Reflector, Kansas has 45 counties classified as maternity care desert, with 35,317 women 15 to 44 years old lacking essential services, especially in rural communities.
COPE and FTI both emphasize the importance of addressing social determinants of health and of promoting health equity. COPE's CHWs could further support services provided by FTI, which aims to decrease maternal morbidity and mortality in Kansas. Some of the services may include providing standardized screening of all childbearing-aged women, ensuring a personalized "mom plan" and establishing ongoing insurance coverage, among others.
COPE will be present in 9 out of the 20 counties with hospitals currently involved in the FTI program.
"The greatest thing about this meeting is to see how excited everyone is to get the program moving and to have the CHWs embedded with the different sites," said Mirás Neira.
Courtesy photos: Ton Mirás Neira
Ton Mirás Neira contributed reporting
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COPE Hits a Home Run at the 2022 American Public Health Association Conference |
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Disseminating the work of COPE to a wider audience, including academic conferences, is one of the ways COPE shares best practices and lessons learned to help elevate health equity in the U.S.
The COPE team has a 100% success rate this year with the American Public Health Association, an organization that "combines a 150-year perspective, a broad-based member community and the ability to influence policy to improve the public's health."
Many COPE members, including our regional partners, CHWs, and medical students, have contributed greatly to the success. Accepted works covered topics such as COPE Project Overview, LHEAT formation, CHW training, COVID test kit distribution, community and academic partnership and interviews with rural primary care clinics.
Sarah Kessler and Christina Pacheco contributed reporting
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"By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest." –Confucius |
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Celebrating National Immunization Awareness Month |
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As we continue the fight for health equity in our communities, now is the perfect time to remember that the pandemic is not over and that immunizations are essential for the recovery of our nation. August is National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM). Please use this time to think about how far the development and advancement of immunization science have come and its impact on public health.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), thousands of American adults get sick each year from diseases that are preventable through vaccination. In recent years we have pushed for an increase in COVID vaccinations, but for patients with other health concerns like asthma or COPD, vaccines are an essential step in protecting their health from serious diseases like influenza and pneumonia.
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Do you know everything there is to know about vaccines? Take this quiz and test your knowledge. |
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For more information regarding childhood vaccinations, click the link. |
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Vaccinations don't stop once you become an adult. For more information regarding vaccines as you age, click the button. |
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Can you tell the difference between fact and fiction? Test your knowledge of fake news in the vaccine world with this quiz. |
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Need help promoting vaccine acceptance? Find resources to encourage vaccines in your community below. |
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Missed our prior issues? Want to share our work with community partners? Our prior issues can be found below.
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