30th Celebration Profiles and Reflections – Veronica Flores
Editor’s Note: In celebration of 30 years of providing quality, affordable and accessible health care, we are profiling three individuals who have graciously shared their story about their connection with the clinic.
Veronica Flores, Patient Services Manager at Health Partnership Clinic
Veronica Flores has converted her daughters’ 2012 dental visit at Health Partnership Clinic (HPC) into a career she never imagined.
Veronica, HPC’s patient services manager, oversees a staff of 11 at four locations: Olathe, Paola Ottawa and Shawnee Mission. She and her team provide nearly every non-provider, patient-facing service, from intake and scheduling to working hand-in-hand with the Billing department to ensure accuracy. Along with taking prospective patients’ original requests for appointments and care, they manage the paperwork required for financial assistance or insurance reimbursements.
Originally from Chihuahua, Mexico — and speaking little English — Veronica first came to the Kansas City area in 2006 at the suggestion of friends and family already here. Back then a divorced and single mother, her two daughters followed once Veronica was established with a job and place to live.
Impressed by the high quality of care and reasonable cost for her daughters’ dental visit, she became a patient herself in 2013, seeing Gwenyth Wagner, DNP, APRN — then a primary care provider — and quickly decided that HPC appeared to be a great place to work. With a customer service background and the encouragement of others, she became a patient care representative in 2014 and has been an HPC mainstay ever since. Through transitions, Veronica became assistant manager in 2016 and then department manager in 2018. As the longest-tenured HPC associate who is not a direct patient care provider, Veronica has been credited by managers with raising HPC’s level of patient service and as one who inspires others to follow her lead.
When asked, Veronica enthusiastically says that being able to help HPC fulfill its mission is among her greatest satisfactions. She excels at patient interaction and especially loves to help HPC’s older and Spanish-speaking patients resolve issues often rooted in nothing more than a language or translation misunderstanding. She delights in receiving a card or small token of appreciation from HPC’s patients. It’s not the gift that necessarily matters to her, but more the thought.
Having trained as a bilingual secretary and private accountant at age 16 back in Chihuahua, Veronica is grateful for the unimaginable journey that has brought and kept her at HPC. She became a permanent resident in 2017 and plans to apply for U.S. citizenship after completing a required five-year wait this year.
Along the way, she married her husband, Eduardo, in 2008 and has set a strong example for her daughters, Victoria, age 24, and Valeria, 21, son Angel, 10, and grandson, Mateo, five.
When she’s not leading and inspiring her HPC team and colleagues, Veronica enjoys spending time with her family, reading, traveling and viewing Spanish-themed Netflix programs. An occasional glass of wine with friends she considers family is an added pleasure.
HPC is grateful to Veronica Flores for her dedication to HPC and her daily concern for our patients as we celebrate 30 years of serving the community.
