(SALINA, Kan.) — Salina-based Saint Francis Community Services was awarded a $75,000 grant this past year from the Walmart Foundation to expand health care services to children throughout a 53-county area in Central and Western Kansas.
The award helped expand Saint Francis' mental health coverage in the area with the addition of a new clinical therapist, as well as provide funding for a traveling Registered Nurse.
The health care providers, who travel throughout the area to see families, offer physical, mental, and dental health assessments for children, birth to 18, who live in rural areas and might not have access to care.
The full-time Registered Nurse, Karen Dreier, provides assessments to children, transportation to appointments for children and their families, assistance at appointments, information about care, and guidance.
Karen has traveled more than 22,000 miles, provided more than 500 KAN Be Healthy (KBH) health screens, identified 45 medically fragile children in the region, expanded hearing exams with the addition of a lightweight, auditory screening unit, and has worked with potential foster parents in the region.
