LUNCHEON SPONSOR

The luncheon was sponsored by the Excelsior Springs Hospital. Kristen DeHart, Hospital CEO provided highlight of the hospital, now celebrating its 120th year of healthcare in Excelsior Springs. In the past week, ESH honored Dr. Robert Shemwell for his 20 years of service to the Board of Trustees.

“Did you know that healthcare not only happens inside the walls of our hospital, but outside in the community as well?” asked Kristen. “It does — a new, but really, not so new term — Social Determinants of Health. Your healthcare is a factor of not only “healthcare”, but where you live, where you play, who you hang with, how wealthy or not wealthy you are, how educated you are, your age, your gender — all those “non-medical factors that impact health outcomes.” In recent light, we have all learned that a combination of all of these factors indicate our “true” health.

Kristen began highlights with some of the work outside of the hospital and some very special people that ESH partners with. Mentioned were Dr. Joshua Umscheid, Pediatrics, specializing in non-surgical orthopedics. Dr. Umscheid is connecting the hospital to ESSD athletes and teams, working side-by-side with Ashley Rose, ESH’s Athletic Trainer. “You can see Dr. Josh in clinic at the hospital, and then, offering his time and passion for sports on the sideline for all of our home games,” said Kristen. His wife, Maura, who is a dietician, has helped at the Community Center education sessions and providing recipes for our Farmers Market.

Tina Cook joined ESH in 2021 as a Clinical Educator. Tina provides weekly community forums at the Community Center and Senior Center. She not only shares physical health and wellness, but all aspects including finance, housing assistance trivia, library resources, introductions, services and Northland connections.

Julia Mees is literally the face of Excelsior Springs SAFE coalition. Julia is the director and is focused on keeping our kids safe from outside influences and bad things. ESH is the fiscal agent for the SAFE program for the past several years. “Our privilege,” said Kristen. “I invite you to attend our monthly SAFE meetings, held at the hospital on the first Thursday of every month. It’s great information and great sharing of resources.”

“I am so very proud of our partnership with the Excelsior Springs Farmers Market,” said Kristen. “If you have not met Tammy Murphy you are missing out. When I first met Tammy, I knew that our hospital mission matched her vision — bringing healthy foods and services to our community.” Tammy and Janet Wesley help connect people who need a farmers market and its offerings to vulnerable people. Through the SNAP and EBT programs, the farmers market has been able to provide “double up bucks’ through 50+ interactions. That means that for every dollar that someone spends, we “double” that value up to $25 per week.

Kristen also highlighted what is happening inside the hospital walls stating that the primary care clinics are booming in all three locations — the hospital, at the Express Clinic inside Price Chopper, and in Lawson. The Emergency Department and all of the ancillary departments are seeing double digit growth in patient visits, testing and procedures. The Excelsior Springs Community Pharmacy, in partnership with North Kansas City Hospital’s pharmacy team, is located on the hospital campus filling over 400 prescriptions per week, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.

ESH supports youth and family wellness. Senior Life Solutions programming continue to experience requests for mental health services. With grant assistance from the Clay County Children’s Services Fund, the hospital expanded its wellness services for children to include outpatient mental health therapy in 2022. Starting with a grant o f $441,000, the hospital was awarded over $1.4 million in 2023 and this year received over $1.5 million. Dr. Courtney Pippen, Adolescent and Child Psychologist, and Dr. Stephanie Brooks, Adolescent and Child Phychiatrist, have joined the hospital in the past few weeks. “Our goal is to rid the stigma around mental health/illness, one patient at a time, while making our community healthier, more resilient, and more fulfilled,” said Kristen. “We believe it’s not only our medical obligation to the community, but our moral obligation.”

Kristen finished with upcoming events. Breast Cancer Awareness and Pink Ribbon Fund in October. The Excelsior Springs Health Care Foundation will be celebrating its 31st Annual Gala on October 24.