Thanks to everyone who took the time to vote. We’re excited to announce that The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce has now named Healthy Connections a finalist for Organization of the Year.
The 2021 Community Service Awards will be presented at a ceremony at Oaklawn Park on Thursday, May 5. In addition to Organization of the Year, awards will be presented for Woman of the Year, Man of the Year, Rising Star of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, Small Business of the Year, and Large Business of the Year.
The Organization of the Year Finalists are:
- The CALL in Garland & Hot Spring Counties
- Abilities Unlimited of Hot Springs
- Cooper-Anthony Mercy Child Advocacy Center
- Healthy Connections
- High Impact Movement
- Cutwell 4 Kids
- Oaklawn Center on Aging
- Cooperative Christian Ministries and Clinic
- National Park College
Healthy Connections is excited to announce its March 2022 Shining STAR employees of the month:
WEST: ERICA SULLIVAN
EAST: KRISTAL LAWRENCE
Each month across the Healthy Connections Community Health Network, exemplary employees are nominated for this award for representing our Three Pillars: Excellence, Compassion, and Community. These pillars are considered heavily when choosing winners.
As winners of this Shining STAR award, Erica and Kristal are winners of a $50 gift card.
Erica is the practice manager for the Mena, Mt. Ida, and De Queen clinics. Kristal is an LPN who works with Evolve Behavioral Health at the Hot Springs McAuley clinic.
- Erica has taken on the role of practice manager for Mena, Mt. Ida, and DeQueen. I don’t think she’s slowed down one day since she took the job. She is professional, and kind, but “takes care of business.” She works with all the staff to help with any needs and seeks out help appropriately when she needs it. Erica was a wonderful choice for this position.
- Erica is a great example of a model employee. She is always willing to take on new responsibilities and help out wherever she is needed. She has a positive attitude and focuses on finding a solution instead of the problem. Erica genuinely cares for our patients and her customer service is unmatched.
- Kristal is always very professional and compassionate with the patients and with staff. Kristal is very willing to help and works steadily all day. I enjoy her sense of humor and what she adds to the workplace and the patients like her as well.
- Kristal also is always willing to help the other nurses in our office even though she has multiple tasks that she is responsible for. When our patients are cared for by Kristal, they will see in her the Healthy Connections mission statement.
Congratulations to both Erica and Kristal.
Do you know who should be our next to be recognized? We had a lot of great nominations sent in for March. Nominate by visiting https://www.healthy-connections.org/nominate.
Healthy Connections Community Health Network and Evolve Behavioral Health and Medication Management is helping celebrate this year’s Social Work Month in March with the theme “The Time is Right for Social Work” to highlight how social workers have enriched our society for more than a century and how their services continue be needed today.
The annual Social Work Month campaign is a time to show our appreciation for and to inform public, policymakers, and legislators about the services social workers provide in an array of sectors, including our community health centers.
There are almost 720,000 professional social workers in our nation, but that number is expected to rise to more than 800,000 by 2030, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. Social workers have helped drive significant, positive changes in our nation. Social workers such as social reformer Jane Addams, former Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, and civil rights leaders Dorothy Height, Whitney Young and Ida B. Wells have pushed for voting rights, equal rights, Social Security, unemployment insurance, and other programs.
Social workers touch millions of lives each day and it is likely a social worker at some time will assist you, a family member, or a friend. For example, are you a student who needs athletic shoes to participate in sports, but your parents can’t afford to buy them? Talk to your school social worker. They can help you find the resources you need. Do you want a better relationship with your spouse, partner, children, or parents? A social worker can help you forge stronger connections.
Are you living with depression, anxiety, or a substance use disorder? A social worker can help you overcome them and thrive. At Evolve, Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW) provide individual family, and group mental-health therapy in our communities.
Visit www.evolvebhs.com to learn more about our social workers and the services they provide.
Healthy Connections, Inc. is being recognized for its quality improvements during the past year.
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has named Healthy Connections a recipient of five of its Community Health Quality Recognition (CHQR) awards. These awards are presented for showing notable quality improvement in areas of access, quality, health equity, and health information technology. In addition, Covid-19 awards were also introduced to recognize health centers’ contributions to the public health emergency response.
Healthy Connections was recognized as:
- Access Enhancer. Health Centers that increase the total number of patients they serve and the number of patients who receive at least one comprehensive service (mental health, substance abuse, vision, dental, and/or enabling) by at least 5 percent.
- Health Disparities Reducer. Health Centers that meet or exceed Healthy People (HP) goals in the areas of low birth weight, hypertension, or uncontrolled diabetes for at least one racial/ethnic minority group, and demonstrate at least a 10 percent improvement in areas of low birth weight, hypertension, or uncontrolled diabetes for at least one racial/ethnic group.
- Advancing HIT for Quality. Recognizes Health Centers that meet all criteria to optimize HIT services that advance telehealth, patient engagement, interoperability, and collection of social determinants of health to increase access to care and advance quality of care.
- Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH). Recognizes health centers with PCHM recognition in one or more delivery sites.
- Covid-19 Testing. Recognizes health centers that tested more than 50 percent of their 2020 reported UDS patient populations from April 10, 2020, to July 2, 2021, and have a response rate of at least 50 percent to the weekly Health Center Covid-19 Survey.
Healthy Connections is a Mena-based Community Health Network with locations throughout southwest and central Arkansas. 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. Services include primary care/family medicine, specialty services including cardiology, podiatry, and women’s health, My Kids Pediatric Clinic, Evolve Behavioral Health Services and Medication Management, Health For Life Clinic, Healthy Families Arkansas Polk, and Garland counties, and more.
Learn more about Healthy Connections at www.healthy-connections.org.
Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, reducing the spread of respiratory illnesses like seasonal influenza (flu) are more important than ever. Vaccination against both the flu and Covid-19 is essential to meet our community’s public health needs, to prevent further disease spread, and to protect vulnerable populations like the elderly, the immunocompromised, and people not yet old enough to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.