Heart to Heart International’s Community Health Program traveled to rural Wellington, Missouri, for a one-day public health service event called Project Connect. This event connected under-resourced and uninsured adults to various services in their community.
Services offered at the event included:
- dental extractions
- haircuts,
- health and mental health screenings
- Veteran’s services
- vouchers for driver’s licenses and birth certificates
- peer recovery coaches
- workforce development information
- enrollment help for Medicaid, food stamps, disability, unemployment and more.
HHI administered COVID-19 and flu vaccines, handed out hygiene kits, and performed A1c tests. An A1c test is a simple blood test that measures a person’s average blood sugar levels over the past 3 months. It’s one of the commonly used tests to diagnose prediabetes and diabetes and is also the main test used to manage a person’s diabetes. Of the 16 A1c tests that HHI performed, 11 were out of range or full-blown diabetes. These patients were referred to HHI’s community health clinic partner, HCC Network, for follow-up appointments and consultations.
HCC Network services more than 78,000 people, 25,000 of which are 200 percent below the federal poverty line.
Stories:
One gentleman who attended the health services event was John. He and his wife came to the event to get his A1C screened. John told community health workers that he was stationed on the USS Shangri-La from 1951-1957, and he wears his veteran hat with great pride. John also told us that he was grateful for all the services available at the event.
Beverly and her son came to the event to see all the resources and get their A1C levels tested. Beverly thanked everyone involved in the event and told us that she learned many things about different services and learned about some services that she hadn’t even known existed. “Keep up the great work,” she said.
