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 its CEO Tony Calandro were selected as finalists for the Nonprofit Organization of the Year awards.
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.
Special hours are in effect this week for clinics across the Healthy Connections Community Health Network.
All clinics will be closed on Thursday, November 26, 2020, for Thanksgiving.
The following clinics will be re-open on Friday, November 27 2020:
Health For Life Clinic, Little Rock Franklin, Arkadelphia, Hot Springs Central, and Mount Ida clinics are closed Friday and will re-open at their normal operating hours on Monday, November 30, 2020. See the complete list of clinic locations and hours at www.healthy-connections.org/locations.
HEALTHY CONNECTIONS, INC. JOINS NATIONWIDE OBSERVANCE OF NATIONAL RURAL HEALTH DAY ON NOVEMBER 19, 2020
Healthy Connections, Inc., is proud to recognize the innovation, quality of care, and dedication of health professionals and volunteers in our community during National Rural Health Day 2020.
National Rural Health Day falls on the third Thursday in November each year and recognizes the efforts of those serving the health needs of an estimated 57 million people across the nation.
“We are proud to recognize our talented team of healthcare workers on National Rural Health Day. They work every day to help keep the communities we serve healthy,” said Tony Calandro, CEO of Healthy Connections, Inc. “Our rural communities are wonderful places to live and work and these small towns are places where people work together to benefit the greater good.”
The Healthy Connections community health network is a federally-qualified health center (FQHC). Healthy Connections and Evolve Behavioral Health both accept Medicaid, ARKids 1st, Medicare, and most private health insurance. There is also a sliding-fee scale for patients without health insurance who qualify. Medicaid patients may be required to switch their primary care provider to Healthy Connections before they can be seen. Learn more about Healthy Connections at www.healthy-connections.org.
A special website (www.PowerofRural.org) has been established for rural health stakeholders to explore a partnership pledge, showcase individuals and organizations selected as 2020 Community Stars, and provide visitors with a variety of tools, including social media posts to help #PowerofRural trend in outlets such as Twitter and Facebook. The website also shares how rural communities across the country will be celebrating National Rural Health Day.
This Thanksgiving Day, we at Healthy Connections give thanks for all of our providers, staff, patients, friends, and families.