For the safety of our patients, visitors, and staff, the Healthy Connections Community Health Network will continue to require masks in accordance with current Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations.
Thank you for your cooperation.
February is recognized as American Heart Month, a time in which we spread the word about strategies for preventing heart disease and encourage people to live heart-healthy lives.
Did you know the Healthy Connections Community Health Network offers cardiology and cardiovascular disease treatment in both Mena and Hot Springs? Visit www.healthy-connections.org/heart for more information.
Friday, February 5, 2021, is designated as National Wear Red Day as part of the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women initiative. For information on this event, visit www.goredforwomen.org.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States. In most years, 1 in 4 deaths is caused by heart disease. The good news is that heart disease can often be prevented when people make healthy choices and manage their health conditions. Communities, health professionals, including those at Healthy Connections, and families can work together to create opportunities for people to make healthier choices.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, many people have delated or avoided going to hospitals for heart attacks and strokes – netting poorer outcomes and prompting the AHA to create “Don’t Die of Doubt,” a national awareness campaign that reminds people that hospitals are the safest place to go when you have symptoms.
Also during the pandemic, more people have engaged in unhealthy lifestyle behaviors such as poor eating, drinking more alcohol, and limiting physical activity. These factors can contribute to heart disease.
Heart disease continues to be the greatest health threat to Americans and is still the leading cause of death worldwide, according to the AHA’s Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics 2021 update. The report a 17.1 increase and a 26.6 percent increase in cardiovascular disease over the past decade.
In most cases, heart disease is preventable when people adopt a healthy lifestyle, which includes not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, controlling blood sugar and cholesterol, treating high blood pressure, getting at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week, and getting regular checkups.
If you have questions about your heart, please make an appointment at our cardiology clinics in Mena or Hot Springs by calling 888-710-8220. Learn more at www.healthy-connections.org/heart.
Healthy Connections, Inc., and CEO Tony Calandro have been named finalists in the Arkansas Business 33rd Annual Business of the Year awards.
Healthy Connections, Inc., is a finalist for the Nonprofit Organization of the Year, while Calandro is a finalist for the Nonprofit Executive of the Year. The winners of each category will be revealed at the awards ceremony and published in a special supplement of Arkansas Business on March 3, 2021.
Finalists were selected by an outside panel of judges and coordinated by Arkansas Business. Thirty-two finalists are selected from across the state in seven categories. See the complete list of finalists at www.ArkansasBusiness.com/ABOY.
Healthy Connections is a Mena-based nonprofit community health network with clinic locations in Mena, Hot Springs, Little Rock, Malvern, Arkadelphia, Mount Ida, and De Queen. Since its founding as a home-visiting program in 1998, Healthy Connections has been able to provide much-needed health, dental, behavioral health, and social services to families of every lifestyle.
Over the past year, Healthy Connections took its services to more places than ever before. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Healthy Connections provided completely-free testing at stops in 10 different Arkansas counties, including some without clinic locations like Texarkana, Gurdon, and Nashville. These day-long events took place in blazing heat and driving rainstorms as employees braved the elements to ensure anyone who wanted to be tested could be tested.
The year also saw an expansion in services with the addition of the Health For Life Clinic and Evolve Behavioral Health and Medication Management. Health For Life Clinic, which provides addiction treatment and testing and treatment for HIV/AIDS patients in Little Rock, joined the community health network in February and has been among the busiest clinics in the network. Evolve brought individual, family, and group mental health therapy to patients across west and central Arkansas just before the pandemic took off.
Cars line up at the mass testing event held in Texarkana in July.
In January, Healthy Connections opened the Franklin Community Health Center in the parking lot of the old Franklin Elementary School in Little Rock. This neighborhood clinic location provided much-requested medical services in a location that was considered a medical desert. And when the pandemic hit, this clinic was at the heart of the Covid-19 testing program.
In May as stay-at-home orders were being issued throughout the state, Healthy Connections quickly expanded its telehealth program to make sure as many patients as possible could be seen from the comfort of their own home.
“We are honored to be recognized alongside the other nonprofit organizations in this category,” Calandro said. “This year has been like no other. Our employees have faced many challenges and consistently found ways to overcome them, ensuring that our patients continue to receive the highest level of care.”
In the Nonprofit Organization of the Year category, Healthy Connections joins Arkansas Research Alliance, Arkansas Immigrant Defense, Children’s Advocacy of Benton County, and The Venture Center as finalists. Healthy Connections was also selected as a finalist in 2018 and 2019.
Calandro joined Healthy Connections 10 years ago and has overseen growth from about 3,000 patients served to more than 23,000 last year.
“I am excited to be a finalist for this award, but know that it would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of our Healthy Connections staff,” Calandro said. “My philosophy has always been to provide employees with the tools and resources they need to do their jobs then stand back and watch them succeed. This award is a reflection of the job they did throughout the past year.”
In the Nonprofit Executive of the Year category, Calandro is joined by Shannon Boshears of UA-Pulaski Technical College Foundation, Wayne Miller of The Venture Center, Christian O’Neal of the UA-Little Rock Foundation, and Fred Scarborough of the Arkansas Children’s Foundation.
Learn more about Healthy Connections at www.healthy-connections.org.
Please note the following holiday hours at Healthy Connections Community Health Network clinics. Call 888-710-8220 for appointments:
Thursday, December 24: Open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Friday, December 25: Closed
Thursday, December 31: Open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday, January 1: Closed
Thursday, December 24: Open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Friday, December 25: Closed
Thursday, December 31: Open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday, January 1: Closed
Thursday, December 24: Open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Friday, December 25: Closed
Thursday, December 31: Open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Friday, January 1: Closed
Thursday, December 24: Open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Friday, December 25: Closed
Thursday, December 31: Open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday, January 1: Closed
Thursday, December 24: Open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Friday, December 25: Closed
Thursday, December 31: Open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday, January 1: Closed
Not open for appointments from Dec. 23 through Dec. 31)
Call (501) 603-0003 for appointments or medication refills
Thursday, December 24: Open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Friday, December 25: Closed
Thursday, December 31: Open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday, January 1: Closed
Thursday, December 24: Open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Friday, December 25: Closed
Thursday, December 31: Open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday, January 1: Closed
Thursday, December 24: Open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Friday, December 25: Closed
Thursday, December 31: Open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday, January 1: Closed
This Thanksgiving Day, we at Healthy Connections give thanks for all of our providers, staff, patients, friends, and families.
To celebrate this year, we asked some of our employees what they are thankful for this year.
Family, Friends, Health, Co-Workers, My job, my church, and all the blessings that the Lord continues to give to me daily.
This year I’m thankful for many things. My family, my job, and my co-workers are just a few. Yes, it has been a rough year for many of us, but we all can look and see good things that have happened as well. Remember to thank those around you for all they do. Also under all these masks, smile!
I am so thankful for so many things – friends, family, being an American. But I’d like to especially point out that I’m thankful for my co-workers, people who have come together for the purpose of taking care of other, understanding that even with the risks of working in healthcare the benefits of helping others outweigh those risks. Happy, happy Thanksgiving to my HCI peeps!
I am thankful that I have such a wonderful work atmosphere where everyone cares about meeting our patient needs. We have something very special here at HCI.
I am thankful for my Salvation and my Church family, my husband, kids, and family and that they are all healthy and live close, my health, my job, living in a small town where everyone knows everyone and looks after each other, the freedoms we have now in America, Vacations with my husband and family, Pepsi, Sweet Tea, Dressing, Coconut Pie and ziplock baggies.
I’m thankful for me and my family staying healthy and well with everything that is going on!
I am thankful for Latricia Reed & Audra Davidson. They never fail to help me. The Chippewa Clinic has been super informative and the women are amazing.
Mostly for my salvation, and my God who makes all blessings flow, innumerable to count. The inner joy that carries me through, and the peace that comes from that security. My family, our health, and freedom. Our jobs, my boss, and the amazing dental team. They are an amazing group of people.
I am thankful for my family (my children) and my work family at HCI! 🙂
Maureen Keese, who was a devoted and cherished Board of Directors member for Healthy Connections, Inc., passed away this week. Maureen dearly loved our organization and mission and much of what we are today, and what we are trying to become, is a tribute to her and the work she did with our board over the past eight years.
“Maureen Keese was an amazing individual who helped so many in the community. She will be seriously missed and leaves a huge void,” said Healthy Connections CEO Tony Calandro. “She was one of our strongest supporters and biggest advocates and we will miss her presence within our Healthy Connections family.”
Maureen grew up in Newark, N.J., and attended Rutgers University before moving to California. She earned degrees from California State University Long Beach, Pepperdine University, and Azusa Pacific University, and began a career in education. In 2003, she and husband Dr. Hector Costamagna relocated to Arkansas. She began work at the University of Arkansas-Rich Mountain where she served as Director of Lifelong Learning and Program Development.
She joined the Healthy Connections, Inc., Board of Directors in 2012 to complete the term of a departing member. She stayed on for two additional terms on the board. Her experience in education, and healthcare marketing and administration, gave her a unique perspective in working to improve the quality of healthcare offered to our communities.
“What we had with Maureen was the epitome of an interested, enthusiastic volunteer. She served admirably, trying to make a difference in our community – both as a volunteer at Healthy Connections and through her job at UA-Rich Mountain,” said Derwood Brett, Chairman of the Healthy Connections Board of Directors. “We added several clinics when she was on the board. She never lost her excitement to make a difference. We are going to miss her.”
Maureen Keese was 69-years-old.