Healthy Connections is excited to announce its May 2022 Shining STAR employees of the month:
WEST: Paula bradley
EAST: kenzie martin
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, Paula and Kenzie are winners of a $50 gift card.
Paula works as the administrative assistant for Healthy Connections and is based at the Mena clinic. She was also heavily involved in the planning for 2022 Admin Days for employee training. Kenzie is a Behavioral Health Patient Care Coordinator and works at the Evolve Behavioral Health clinic at Hot Springs McAuley.
- Paula always goes above and beyond to help in any way she can. Paula worked very hard on getting everything together for the fashion show for admin day. She went above and beyond to make sure it was appropriate for the dress code but fun for everyone to enjoy.
- Paula has a very positive and professional attitude and has been an amazing addition from day 1. She is always willing to take on projects to help us better serve our patients and co-workers.
- Kenzie gives 100 percent every day she is here, from answering every phone call, taskman, or patient questions. And she is extremely dependent and loyal as a co-worker. We could NOT function without her!
- Kenzie is a hard worker and is very compassionate with her work and for the patients, we endure. She strives to be better at everything she does.
- Kenzie is a hard worker and is always willing to help. She is dependable and very good at her job. I often find myself not having to follow-up to see if something is taken care of because she has already taken care of it and let me know.
Congratulations to both Paula and Kenzie.
Thanks again this month to everyone who nominated an employee. There were a lot of great nominations. Do you know who should be our next employees to be recognized? You can nominate them by visiting https://www.healthy-connections.org/nominate.
Healthy Connections is excited to announce its April 2022 Shining STAR employees of the month:
WEST: David Jumper
EAST: Lisa Erwin
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, David and Lisa are winners of a $50 gift card.
David works with the IT department and is based in Mena. Lisa is a Medical Assistant and works with Dr. Richard Bennett at the Hot Springs McAuley clinic.
- David is always available to help with our computer or printer problems. He is a nice addition to Healthy Connections and the IT dept. at Mena.
- David has gone above and beyond trying to help with IT issues over the past few months. He is always polite and helpful. If he doesn’t know the answer he will reach out to whoever is necessary so that he can figure out a resolution. He wants to help us succeed and be the best health center possible.
- David is always willing to help with any technical difficulties and comes to help the nurses’ station right away when called upon.
- Lisa is fantastic! She has a great attitude and is a true team player. She’s willing to learn whatever we throw at her. A true asset to have.
- Lisa displays “excellence” as an MA nurse in that she is very good with our patients and their care, and, from my observance is a great team player assisting Dr. Bennett in her everyday duties. As it relates to “compassion and community”, Lisa always displays this as being very upbeat, positive, and very compassionate when it comes to our patients. She is an absolute joy to work with.
Congratulations to both David and Lisa.
Thanks again this month to everyone who nominated an employee. There were a lot of great nominations. Do you know who should be our next employees to be recognized? You can nominate them by visiting https://www.healthy-connections.org/nominate.
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 is excited to announce its February 2022 Shining STAR employees of the month:
WEST: Michelle gibson
EAST: andrea pilcher
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, Michelle and Andrea are winners of a $50 gift card.
Michelle is a Clinical Nurse Educator and also works with PCMH and Quality and Risk Management. Andrea is a LPN with the My Kids Pediatric Clinic and the lead nurse at the Hot Springs Central Clinic.
- “Michelle and Andrea have been amazing over the past six months helping during a nursing shortage, the startup of Monoclonal Antibody Treatment, and nurse training. They both exhibit professional behavior and are among the “go-to’s” when anyone needs help.”
- “Michelle doesn’t show any sign of attitude and is an amazing trainer. She takes her time to make sure you understand what she is explaining.”
- “Andrea is so hardworking. She is always trying to help out her co-workers as well as the patients and their families. She always has a bright and friendly demeanor.”
Congratulations to both Michelle and Andrea.
Do you know who should be our next to be recognized? Nominate by visiting https://www.healthy-connections.org/nominate.
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.
