Outreach

Reaching out to those who need us.

The MPCA conducts outreach activities by:

Raising awareness about services available at Missouri Community Health Centers and

Providing training and technical support to Community Health Centers for their outreach efforts.

Increasing awareness about Missouri Community Health Centers

In tough economic times, it is especially important for all Missourians to know that high-quality, community-based, culturally sensitive, and affordable primary and preventive health care services are available at more than 120 Community Health Center sites in Missouri.  Outreach is accomplished primarily through:

  • MPCA’s many partnerships and collaborations
  • MPCA staff membership/leadership in  State task forces, advisory and work groups
  • Information on the MPCA website
  • MPCA’s newsletter – The Health Center
  • Community Health Center Directory

Outreach training and technical support for Community Health Centers

Personal contact has been a cornerstone outreach strategy of the Community Health Center movement since it began in the 1960s. Health Centers provide information, education and services to the populations they serve in safe and familiar environments such as medical, dental and behavioral health facilities, schools, neighborhood stores, fields where seasonal migrants are working, and places where homeless individuals might gather.

MPCA supports its member Community Health Centers in their outreach efforts by:

  • Helping Community Health Center staff remain current and excited about their outreach work
  • sponsoring the Outreach and Enrollment Network for Missouri’s Health Centers – staffed by Lane Jacobs
  • Facilitating communications and information sharing through a listserv, conference calls, site visits, and meetings
  • Providing on-site training for MO HealthNet application completion asisstance for Health Center staff

CHC staff assisted several thousand eligible patients complete MO Health Net applications in 2009. This includes more than 1,500 presumptive eligibility applications that provide immediate coverage for a limited time for eligible youth under 19 years old.

The Women and Minority Health Outreach Program (funded by the Missouri General Assembly through the Missouri Department of Social Services) and the Teen Enrollment Effort Now (TEEN – funded by Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) project provide additional funding to select Health Centers for enhanced outreach and enrollment activities.

Additional support, training and technical assistance includes:

  • Medicare Part D application assistance training
  • Cultural sensitivity, including providing resources for Community Health Center staff so they can work more efficiently and effectively with patients with limited English proficiency (LEP)
  • Health literacy training
  • Simplification of Health Center documents for easier reading by all patients, especially those with limited reading skills

Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have.