Thirty years ago, Johnson County adults—who were uninsured and needed acute and chronic disease care—typically accessed care through emergency rooms. This type of episodic care created a financial drain on both patients and hospitals and more importantly, did not provide continuous and comprehensive care. Hospital and community leaders banded together and opened Health Partnership of Johnson County in 1992 to fill that gap. This “free” primary care clinic provided limited adult acute and chronic disease care with volunteer providers and staff.

Over the last 30 years, the clinic, which is now known as Health Partnership Clinic (HPC), has continued to grow to meet the changing needs of Johnson County and the surrounding area. The clinic has provided an estimated 390,000 patient visits since opening its doors.

  • In 2012, the clinic received Federally Qualified Health Center designation opening the door to offer pediatric and adult medicine and dental services on a sliding fee discount in Olathe, Kan.
  • In addition, the Paola clinic opened—serving Miami County, and the clinic’s dental outreach program began.
  • In 2013, the clinic launched its behavioral health services, in 2015, this model of care was expanded to Franklin County and in 2016, the Shawnee Mission Clinic on the campus of AdventHealth Shawnee Mission, opened.
  • Since then, the clinic launched a school-based clinic at Merriam Park Elementary School in Merriam, Kan. and in 2021 relocated services to Shawnee Mission West High School in Overland Park, Kan. It also provides Substance Abuse and Medication-Assisted Treatment Services.
  • During the intervening years, the clinic has added staff and services to continue to meet the needs of the communities it serves. HPC is ranked among the top 20 percent of health centers nationally for best overall clinical performance (2021).
Amy Falk

Amy Falk, CEO

“As the only federally qualified health center in Johnson, Miami and Franklin Counties, we are proud to provide quality, affordable and accessible health care to the uninsured, those underinsured and individuals with insurance,” says Amy Falk, CEO. “Many residents have received care at one of our clinic sites over the years, and they have seen many changes in staff, structure and services. We thank all those for trusting HPC to provide care for the last 30 years, and we look forward to serving and expanding services well into the future.”

Falk reflects, “This milestone is one that has not been easily reached over the years. The dedicated efforts of staff, volunteers, providers and by the Board of Directors laying plans to keep HPC a viable, growing entity in the future will ensure our success. We hope our patients, staff and community take the opportunity to remember the past struggles and successes, celebrate where we are now, but look forward to the future with bright optimism on what we are about to achieve.”

The clinic will be celebrating throughout the year. Plans include its annual Opening Doors fundraising luncheon event in April, staff activities, a time capsule, coloring and video essay contests for school partners and a community open house in August. Please check back periodically to see  how you can be part of our celebration!

December Activities

To wrap up HPC’s 30th Anniversary celebration, staff, board and volunteers received a branded apparel item, holiday ornament and holiday card with a 30th Anniversary theme.  

As a token of our appreciation, HPC leadership delivered a tin of popcorn, HPC 30th Anniversary candles and ornaments to our key community partners.

November Activities

30 Day Gratitude Challenge30-Day Gratitude Challenge

As part of Health Partnership Clinic’s 30th Celebration, we are challenging our staff and social media followers to help foster a new attitude of gratitude!

Join HPC’s 30-Day Gratitude Challenge! Feel good and win a prize!

Throughout November, a daily theme will be shared with our social media followers and staff. You will be invited to find things (or people) that you are grateful to have in your life and to express your gratitude for them by sharing on social media with our hashtag #GratefulatHPC22. Feel free to challenge your friends and family!

How to participate

30 Day Gratitude ChallengeSnap a photo, make a comment or update your thankfulness via Instagram and/or Facebook at #GratefulatHPC22! Be sure to include the hashtag as part of your comment or post so we can track your participation. You can post on both Facebook and Instagram or one or the other—your choice. However, if you post to both social media platforms each day, you will get two entries per day into the drawing, giving you a greater chance to win!

The prize

$100 gift certificate to Massage Envy. You can enjoy a massage, facial or stretch. One prize given in random drawing.

Questions

Contact Catherine Rice, VP of Marketing/Outreach, at 913-730-3680 or crice@hpcks.org.

Celebrations always taste better with funnel cakes! Staff were treated to funnel cakes and deep-fried Snickers, Oreos and Twinkies on Nov. 2 prior to the Staff Half Day Inservice meetings.

October Activities

In celebration of providing 30 years of quality, affordable and accessible health care, HPC hosted a Halloween Door Decorating Contest. Participants were asked to incorporate the 30th Anniversary into their theme.

The first-place winner was the Dental Department. They incorporated the theme three times with a Happy 30th message, a 30th Celebration Brew, and 30 Jack O’Lanterns. The Jack O’Lanterns contained 30 positive patient comments inside.

The PSR/Billing Department came in second with their Mexican Bingo themed door and Behavioral Health came in third with their 30 Years of Patient Scare Door.

During the month of October, we began collecting items for the HPC Time Capsule. Staff, board members and volunteers are invited to fill the HPC Time Capsule with various items representing HPC and the communities we serve. The time capsule will be opened in 2032… the year we celebrate 40 years of providing quality, affordable and accessible health care!

September Activities

In September, the 30th Anniversary celebration continued with a successful United Way Campaign. The theme of the campaign was “Be the Change” with an international flair. Decorations included globes and flags from around the world and we had a variety of foods from different countries.

Our campaign raised a total of $2,450, exceeding our fundraising goal by more than 63 percent!

August Activities

In celebration of providing 30 years of quality, affordable and accessible health care, HPC celebrated staff by offering chair massages and a special treat from KC Whip and Company at our All Staff Inservice.

During National Health Center Week, a daily door prize drawing was held, and lunch was provided to staff compliments of UnitedHealthcare Community Plan.

In addition, patients received refreshments on Patient Appreciation Day, and were entered into a drawing to win a $75 QuikTrip gift card. One patient was selected for each clinic location. Special thanks to Aetna Better Health of Kansas for sponsoring Patient Appreciation Day.

HPC also hosted an Open House. Guests participated in tours and enjoyed coffee and donuts, thanks to a sponsorship from Sunflower Health Plan.

A small but mighty group also attended the KC Monarchs game on Aug. 12.

July Activities

In celebration of providing 30 years of quality, affordable and accessible health care, HPC partnered with The Community Blood Center (CBC) for a Blood Drive Challenge. Staff, family and friends were encouraged to donate at a local CBC donor center between July 20-24.  In addition, the July All Staff Meeting was held at Main Event.

June Activities

May Activities

Staff History Quiz and Luau

April Activities

Clinic Celebrates with Contests

In celebration of providing 30 years of quality, affordable and accessible health care, Health Partnership Clinic partnered with area businesses to sponsor two contests, a coloring contest opened to children in third grade attending nine Title 1 elementary schools in the Olathe School District, and a video essay contest for students attending Shawnee Mission West High School in Shawnee Mission School District in Overland Park, Kan.

Coloring for Health

Health Partnership teamed up with UnitedHealthcare Community Plan for the coloring contest. More than 280 submissions were received. Eight of the nine Title 1 schools participated in the contest. And of 21 classrooms, eight had 100 percent participation. A drawing of the eight teachers with 100 percent participation was held for a pizza party and Target gift card. Ms. Hadley’s third grade class at Indian Creek were the lucky winners. The other seven classrooms received donuts for the class compliments of UnitedHealthcare Community Plan. Dr. Health E. Hound also made a special appearance, which brought smiles to the students and school staff.

The winners of the coloring contest are:

  • 1st Place: Bella Chavez, Central Elementary
  • 2nd Place: David Gutierrez, Westview Elementary
  • 3rd Place: Jairon Coto Cartagena, Westview Elementary
  • Honorable Mention: Charlynn, Northview Elementary

First, second and third place winners received their artwork framed and a toy gift bag. The prize for first place winner was valued at $100, second place, $50 and third place, $25. Honorable mentioned received a small gift and her art framed.

Judges included the UnitedHealthcare team: Elizabeth Billings, Laura Canelos and Chrissy Krause, and from Health Partnership: Stephanie Rojas, Dental Department and Catherine Rice, Marketing and Outreach.

Creating Health Awareness Videos

Health Partnership also partnered with Sunflower Health Plan and Davidson Promotional to host a video essay contest with the theme: “The biggest health challenges facing youth.” Shawnee Mission West is the site of the clinic’s school-based health clinic, which opened last fall.

The winners are:

  • 1st Place, Ezekiel (Zeke) Greenwald, a 12th grader, Mental Health in High School
  • 2nd Place, Zachary Fornelli, a 11th grader, Anti Vape PSA
  • 3rd Place, Samantha Wallenburg, a 10th grader, Not Just a Statistic

The first place winner won $250 cash, second place $150 and third place $100. Students attended the Opening Doors luncheon where their videos were premiered.

According to Catherine Rice, Vice President of Marketing and Outreach for the clinic, the winning video was captivating in so many ways. “Zeke did a brilliant job in balancing between audio, video and silence. One judge wrote, “I felt as though I was brought in and talked to in a way that I could simply understand what students suffering may be experiencing.” Another judge wrote, “The home video at the end made me tear up.” And another comment, “I really love this video and appreciate your depiction of depression and suicidal thoughts.””

The video submissions were judged for content, creativity and overall production. Judges included Michelle Gines and Gabrielle Owens from Sunflower; Maureen Caro, a family nurse practitioner from Health Partnership; and Stan Anderson with Shawnee Mission West.

30th Celebration Activities

30th Anniversary Activities

HPC History

Happy Birthday Videos

Video Essay Contest Winners

Coloring Contest Winners

Annual Opening Doors Luncheon

Garmin Munchkin Marathon and Family Run

March Activities

Grounded Mobile Coffee Event

February Activities

Silly Hat Day

January Activities

HPC celebrates with birthday cupcakes

HPC distributes 30th Celebration t-shirts to staff, volunteers and board members

Christina Cook Rebecca Turner