Over the river and through the woods . . . With the holidays in full swing, All Care is looking ahead to determine the best ways to increase student healthcare access. Beginning at the start of the Spring Semester on January 16, All Care's mobile medical clinic will rotate among five school buildings within the Council Bluffs Community School District. Primary healthcare services will continue at Thomas Jefferson High School, while Abraham Lincoln High School, Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Gerald W. Kirn Middle School, and the Kanesville Alternative Learning Center are added to the service rotation. Regardless of the mobile healthcare clinic's location, mobile healthcare services are available to all district students, as well as district families and school staff.

All Care’s mobile healthcare clinic provides prevention and treatment of common illnesses, management of chronic conditions, sports physicals, immunizations, and referrals to specialists. You can keep your family healthy by establishing care in the mobile clinic.

With many costs rising, healthcare is not always first on the list of family priorities. All Care will help keep your family’s healthcare affordable. The mobile health clinic allows your students to receive healthcare services without you leaving work and missing valuable hours of pay. Families can also apply to use the sliding fee scale to reduce financial burden.  

Parents should complete enrollment paperwork and turn it in to their school nurse or All Care Health Center before appointments. Completed paperwork should come with your student when they receive services. Consent is necessary for services. Call (712) 325-1990 to schedule an appointment!  

Meet our new Nurse Practitioner Sarah Thometz.

Sarah comes to All Care Health Center from One World Community Health Center in Omaha, where she began as an RN in October of 2021, then continued as an Urgent Care Advanced Practice Registered Nurse, beginning in April of 2023. In the midst of this continuing practice of medicine, Sarah completed her Master of Science in Nursing from Bradley University in Peoria, IL.  

Before coming to the metro, Sarah gained RN experience in a medical center, hospital, and surgical center, all in the Chicago metro, after studying for her BSN at Saint Xavier University, also in Chicago.  

Sarah is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International, where she serves as a Community Group Facilitator for Disaster Preparedness in the Community.  

Sarah Thometz has joined All Care Health Center through a University of Nebraska Medical Center fellowship and will be supervised by Dr. Cristella Torres.

Open Enrollment Closes January 15: 

Is your Appointment Scheduled?

During open enrollment in 2022, Sandi Donehoo worked with a teacher seeking a more affordable insurance plan. He was so pleased with the insurance that Sandi was able to help him get it. He asked her if he could schedule an appointment for 2023. She told him she could not schedule an appointment with him that far out due to an upcoming transition in All Care’s scheduling system. He would not receive a reminder call without an appointment in the appropriate system. However, Sandi set an appointment with him in her Outlook calendar and wrote him an appointment card. This gentleman showed up to his appointment a year later, with his appointment card in hand, to meet with Sandi for his annual insurance enrollment. After another successful appointment, he plans to return to meet with Sandi in 2024 to reevaluate his insurance plan.

Sandi has worked at All Care Health Center since October 2022. She is a Certified Application Counselor for Marketplace and can assist with Medicaid. She has been employed in health insurance enrollment roles for many years. Sandi also processes almost all All Care’s Sliding Fee Scale applications and assists patients with Hope Medical Outreach Coalition Applications. She is a fountain of knowledge for community resources - especially the nuances of Medicaid. Sandi plans to receive SHIIP (Senior Health Insurance Information Program) training this coming summer. SHIIP is a free service that helps Iowans to navigate their Medicare options.

All Care's Access Services team encourages anyone needing Marketplace assistance to schedule an appointment at All Care by calling (712) 325-1990. Assistance is free to anyone in the community. 

Amanda McCormick Receives Arlene Steege Award for Exceptional Human Services Commitment

During their annual recognition luncheon on December 8, Amanda McCormick received the prestigious Arlene Steege Award from the Human Services Advisory Council (HSAC). This award recognizes a person in the human service area who demonstrates dedication and commitment to those in need through their employment and community service. The nominee’s agency/organization must belong to HSAC. Arlene Steege was a pillar of the Council Bluffs Community. She worked for the Department of Human Services for many years and was a founding member of HSAC. Her memory is honored through the work of a deserving award recipient each year.

Mandy’s work as a psychiatric nurse practitioner focuses on patients who have experienced trauma. While completing her post-master’s degree, she interned with All Care Health Center, working with patients from New Visions Homeless Services. It was then that she knew where she wanted to work; she felt she “clicked” with the homeless population. After completing her internship, Mandy began practicing full-time at All Care. Most of Mandy’s days are spent caring for New Visions Homeless Services and MICAH House guests while also working at All Care’s main location. 

Mandy’s teammates say that brings personalization to her care to ensure that the shelter patients follow up with her and receive the mental healthcare they need. She will sit with shelter guests to see if they have mental health needs and go out of her way to assist them. She works diligently to follow up on medication management with homeless patients to ensure they receive their monthly injections, which can be difficult due to their transient lifestyle. When Mandy has no patients in her office, she goes around the shelter to introduce herself to homeless guests and helps set up appointments. A former colleague stated, “They love her at the shelter. Her patients know she is there for them, and she has a way of calming tense situations.”

Mandy stresses to her patients that trauma comes in all forms, stemming from any big change in life. Mandy asks that individuals struggling and unsure of the source of their pain make an appointment to receive help.

In addition to caring for her patients, Mandy assumes a leadership role in forming relationships with other agencies that may assist individuals who need mental healthcare. This includes examining gaps in care for incarcerated and released individuals at the Pottawattamie County Jail. Strengthening relationships can also enhance communication with other agencies, such as Heartland Family Service’s Assertive Community Treatment team. By forming these relationships, agencies can work better together to ensure their clients and residents of our communities get the mental healthcare they need.  

Since joining All Care, Manyd has completed Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy training. She is now focusing on learning more about functional medicine – a biology-based approach that focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of disease. In her care, patients receive brief counseling intervention, medication management, and help to find the path that best suits their needs.

In addition to the above specialties, Mandy’s professional focuses include psychiatry, anxiety, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and the LGBTQIA+ community. Mandy hopes to help her patients feel comfortable as their most authentic selves, emulating her favorite quote, “To be yourself in a world that is always trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

Our Most Vulnerable Patients Your Help

Imagine. You are a single mom. Your monthly rent increased. Gas is high, and groceries continue to get more expensive, yet your wage has stayed the same. Your family has needs, and you feel intense pressure. You recently learned you have diabetes, but even after insurance and All Care’s sliding fee scale, you cannot add one more payment to your monthly bills. You start thinking of solutions: Maybe you can add a day between your insulin doses. Maybe you can put off diabetes care for a month. What is the worst that can happen?

These are real-life struggles that plague the everyday reality of our patients. Dire choices create adverse health outcomes that complicate future health. 

At All Care, we fill needed gaps. Our Health Equity Assurance Pharmacy Fund is designed to ensure that every patient can receive life-saving medications needed for the best possible health outcomes. This fund takes care of balances that remain after our sliding fee scale and insurance benefits are utilized. This may seem like a small cost to some, but it can be a mountain standing in the way of good health to others. 

All Care is $875 from reaching our goal to meet the needs of our most vulnerable patients. Every small donation makes a BIG difference to our patients who want to feel well while they tackle daily challenges. Can you help us to reach our goal? Give a small gift to All Care’s Health Equity Assurance Pharmacy Fund today. Your donation will have a direct impact on a patient in your community.  

Congressional Visit Emphasizes

Western Iowa's Healthcare Needs

On November 21, All Care Health Center leadership welcomed U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra and Iowa Representative Josh Turek, among guests from Pottawattamie County Public Health and the Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce. Attendees received an inside look of the health center guided by Dr. Cristella Torres, All Care Health Center's Medical Director.   

After the tour, Representative Feenstra led discussions surrounding the area's healthcare needs, highlighting the need for more dental care and mental healthcare. Representative Feenstra stressed that the distance between health centers in rural western Iowa is a significant health disparity. Matt Wyant, Pottawattamie County Public Health, shared the need for increased rural care in Pottawattamie County. During the discussion, Joel Dougherty, All Care Health Center's CEO, emphasized the need for continued and sustained federal funding to keep serving patients amid extraordinary workforce, infrastructure, and financial challenges; he also stressed the importance of the 340B program that allows All Care to further stretch resources to provide additional benefits and services to patients.

All Care Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center, invites community stakeholders and government officials to discuss our community's pressing healthcare needs. All Care integrates primary health, dental, and mental healthcare, prioritizing accessibility and affordability for vulnerable populations. Community health services are available to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay or insurance status.

All Care Health Center, located at 902 S. 6^th Street, in Council Bluffs, and The Florence M. Lakin Health Center at 1415 Avenue J on the Charles E. Lakin Human Services Campus are both accepting new patients. All Care continues to develop its mobile healthcare program, which is currently available to students, staff, and families of the Council Bluffs Community School District.

Rolling out the Red Carpet to All

Red Carpet service is a part of the All Care Way. Patients can expect a personal greeting in the lobby by a medical assistant who accompanies them to their appointment and begins service. As Aileen Corrida was providing this service to a mental health patient, she noticed another patient stumbling through language difficulties while making a dental appointment.

Visiting All Care for an appointment in a different department displayed this patient’s huge mental health strides. Ailen was so proud of him for coming to All Care to schedule a much-needed and overdue dental appointment. Ailen stepped aside from her red-carpeting duties to ensure smooth scheduling. She was determined to get him scheduled, stating the fact that being here in person showed just how far he had journeyed toward his mental health goals. Ailen’s dedication to her patients pushed her to perform above and beyond to advocate for her patient, even though he wasn’t in the health center to see her team that day. His red carpet extended far beyond his appointment day. Ailen’s strong Cuban roots not only guide her ability to dissolve language barriers with her Spanish-speaking patients but also comfort them.

Ailen began working at All Care Health Center in 2022. She is motivated to be a better person daily and feels it is a blessing to be part of the All Care Health Center family. Her passion to serve enables her team’s patients to achieve their best health outcomes. She states, “I really love my job and my patients!” Her recent efforts have gained her a third Service Excellence Award.

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