Archive for category: HPC News

By Catherine Rice, Vice President of Marketing/Outreach at Health Partnership Clinic

Raising Dollars, Awareness for Uninsured Neighbors

On Saturday morning, Jan. 25, 2025, teams and individuals will don their winter hats and gloves to walk in Health Partnership Clinic’s first annual Snowflake Streak in Olathe, Kan. The peer-to-peer fundraising walk—which raises money for our low income and uninsured children and adults—will be held at the Olathe Community Center/Stagecoach Park. Walkers will enjoy pre and post walk activities including a short program, brisk walk around the 0.97-mile walking trail loop and breakfast. Joe Lauria, evening news meteorologist for FOX4, will serve as the event’s emcee.

The event goal is to raise $50,000. We invite area companies, vendors, schools, civic and church groups and the overall community to participate by being a sponsor, forming a team or both. To date, we have 23 teams and have raised more than $23,000! To learn how, visit us at hpcks.org/snowflake.

A heartfelt thank you to the following businesses who are supporting Snowflake Streak: Presenting-AdventHealth; Wintry-City of Olathe; Cozy Community-Enterprise Bank, Entrepreneurs Alliance, Olathe Health-Part of The University of Kansas Health System and The Purple Guys; Hot Cocoa and Coffee Bar-Blue Gurus and Frosty-Davidson Promotional, Farmers Bank of KC and Olathe Noon Optimists Club.

HOW IT WORKS?

You can walk as an individual, become a team captain and recruit others to be on your team, or you can join a team. There are individual incentives and team prizes, activities, breakfast after the walk, including a hot chocolate and coffee bar.

Team registration—which can be one person or more—is open until Thursday, Jan. 16. Although there is no fee to walk, we encourage individuals to raise $100 which will underwrite the cost of providing a rapid RSV, strep or flu test for two uninsured children.

Those raising $100 will receive a Snowflake Streak t-shirt. There are also other incentives including a hot/cold tumbler set, blanket shawl, fleece jacket, Garmin Activity Tracker, etc. The more you raise, the more incentives you earn! There will be prizes for Best Dressed Team and Individual Adult and Child, Top Fundraising and Most Team Members.

Come kick off the new year with a brisk walk for your own health and for others! To learn more about the walk or how to sponsor, click on the QR Code below.

By Catherine Rice, Vice President of Marketing/Outreach at Health Partnership Clinic

Health Partnership Clinic recently hosted the Entrepreneurs Alliance of Kansas City at our Olathe clinic. Amy Falk, the clinic’s CEO and I gave a presentation about what we do at HPC and the impact we are making. Members of the Alliance presented a $1,000 check to support our upcoming Snowflake Streak event as a Cozy Community Sponsor. The Snowflake Streak is a peer-to-peer fundraising event that will be held on Saturday, January 25, 2025 at the Olathe Community Center. All funds raised will help support our low income and uninsured neighbors in Johnson, Miami and Franklin Counties.

The Entrepreneurs Alliance is a group of entrepreneurs and professionals who enjoy speaking into and supporting the process and ideas behind building successful businesses. The group’s goal is to connect and educate within the entrepreneurial ecosystem in and around Kansas City.

We are very grateful to the Alliance members and to Jason Terry with Blue Gurus, who has provided website and blog support for the clinic for the last seven years, for introducing us to the group.

Sponsorships are still being accepted and teams are forming.

To learn more about the Snowflake Streak, hpcks.org/snowflake/ or call Catherine Rice at 913-730-3680.

By Catherine Rice, Vice President of Marketing/Outreach at Health Partnership Clinic

Personal hygiene begins and ends with our hands

Healthy hands are happy hands so be sure to keep hands clean to prevent viruses from spreading. It’s one of those everyday precautions besides covering your coughs and sneezes and avoiding close contact when you are feeling unwell.

At Health Partnership Clinic, we follow several proactive steps to ensure the safety of our staff and patients. At the top of the list is frequent handwashing. At home, it is equally important. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides several useful tips and reminders to keep you and your family healthy.

Remember, handwashing is one of the best ways to protect yourself and your family from getting sick—that goes for COVID, the flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and colds!

According to the CDC,
handwashing can prevent one in three diarrhea-related illnesses
and one in five infections, including the flu.

How Germs Spread

Washing hands can keep you healthy and prevent the spread of respiratory and diarrheal infections from one person to the next. Germs can spread from other people or surfaces when you:

• Touch your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands
• Prepare or eat food and drinks with unwashed hands
• Touch a contaminated surface or objects
• Blow your nose, cough, or sneeze into hands and then touch other people’s hands or common objects

Did you know… A typical human sneeze exits the body at about 200 miles per hour and emits around 40,000 droplets into the air. Wow!

Key Times to Wash Hands

You can help yourself and your loved ones stay healthy by washing your hands often, especially during these key times when you are likely to get and spread germs:

• Before, during, and after preparing food
• Before eating food
• Before and after caring for someone at home who is sick with vomiting or diarrhea
• Before and after treating a cut or wound
• After using the toilet

Did you know… The CDC reports that only 31 percent of men and 65 percent of women washed their hands after using a public restroom. Yuck!

• After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has used the toilet
• After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing
• After touching an animal, animal feed, or animal waste
• After handling pet food or pet treats
• After touching garbage

It is also recommended that you should clean hands:

• After you have been in a public place and touched an item or surface that may be frequently touched by other people, such as door handles, tables, gas pumps, shopping carts, or electronic cashier registers/screens, etc.
• Before touching your eyes, nose, or mouth because that’s how germs enter our bodies.

Follow Five Steps to Wash Your Hands the Right Way

Washing your hands is easy, and it’s one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of germs. Clean hands can stop germs from spreading from one person to another and throughout an entire community—from your home and workplace to childcare facilities and hospitals and clinics.

Follow these five steps every time.

1. Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap.
2. Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
3. Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice.
4. Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.
5. Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.

Washing hands with soap and water is the best way to get rid of germs in most situations. If soap and water are not readily available, you can use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol. You can tell if the sanitizer contains at least 60 percent alcohol by looking at the product label. Remember to keep hand sanitizer out of reach of young children and supervise their use. Swallowing alcohol-based hand sanitizer can cause alcohol poisoning.

Get the whole family involved in handwashing. HPC has developed an easy-to-follow tip sheet for children. Check it out!

By Diana Zamora, Enrollment Specialist at Health Partnership Clinic

The Health Insurance Marketplace (also known as the “Marketplace” or “exchange”) opens Friday, Nov. 1 and will close Wednesday, Jan. 15. The Marketplace provides health plan shopping and enrollment services through websites, call centers and in-person help.

At HPC, we offer free, in-person help with the health insurance application. We are now scheduling appointments by calling 913-730-3653. A certified application counselor is available to help callers in English or Spanish.

To make an appointment, call 913-730-3653.

Hurry! Appointments are limited.

To learn more, visit hpcks.org/patient-resources/insurance-other-services.