Health Access

Sedgwick County > Health Department > Health Access

Resources

Cover the Uninsured kit
Kit Para Cubrir A Los No Asegurados
Community Health Clinics - An up-to-date list of Sedgwick County Community Health Clinics and their contact information.
Proveedores Para Los Residentes No Asegurados
Dental Clinics for Uninsured Residents
Community Health Clinic Map - A map of Wichita that shows the locations of the Community Health Clinics.
Milestone Report - A report on the work done in the first eight months of the Health Access project.
Transportation Options
Around the County - Health Dept April 23, 2008 - 18 min 42 sec

Surveying the Uninsured

Affordable and accessible health care is essential for all Sedgwick County citizens. This is of particular concern to our neighbors, friends and family members who do not have health insurance of any kind.

To begin to address this problem, the Sedgwick County Health Department is participating in the Sedgwick County Community Coverage Initiative, a community-wide effort with public and private partners committed to improving health access for the uninsured in our community.

In conjunction with this initiative, we have developed a web-based survey to collect information from the public about their views on health coverage. The survey only takes about four minutes to take.

Breaking Down the Barriers to Health Care Access

Affordable health care is essential for all Sedgwick County citizens. According to the Small Area Health Insurance Estimates, approximately 10.9% of Sedgwick County residents were uninsured in 2005 – that’s 45,825 of our neighbors, friends and family members. The impact of this problem does not just affect those individuals; it affects individuals, businesses and our entire health care system.

The Board of Sedgwick County Commissioners initiated a community dialogue to research the problem and look for possible solutions to decrease the barriers citizens have to health care access. The first public step toward solutions was on June 7, 2007, when the County hosted a community summit on health care access. Approximately 90 community members attended that meeting representing the health care industry, nonprofit sector, business community, citizens, academia and local and state governments.

During this summit, three main barriers emerged: Coverage, System Coordination and System Navigation. Work groups have been created to work on solutions to each of these system barriers. A short description of each of these obstacles is below.

Initiative Strategies

Coverage: lack of health access for people who are uninsured or underinsured.
System coordination: lack of health access due to the difficulties of coordinating services between hospitals and safety net clinics.
System navigation: lack of health access caused by people having a limited understanding of options.

The three work groups held regular meetings from September 2007-March 2008. Additionally, Commissioner Tim Norton led a steering team to oversee all work. The working groups’ final recommendations can be found in the Milestone Report, which is linked at the top of this page. In Fall 2008, an oversight committee will be established to ensure timely implementation of the proposed recommendations. Progress of the Oversight Committee may be monitored by reviewing the monthly updates below.

Oversight Committee Meetings Archive

Community Health Navigators

In order to improve system navigation, the idea of the community health navigators was born. Community health navigators are volunteers who provide health information to other citizens. Navigators go into the community at the neighborhood, church and other civic organization levels with health access information and health education toolkits. Click here to learn more about this exciting program.

History

Access to Health Overview - A snapshot of the Health Access project including history/background.
Center for Health Equity Fact Sheet - Overview of the Health Department's Center for Health Equity.

Work Group Meetings Archive

Because access to health care is important to all County citizens, monthly updates can be found on this page to keep you up-to-date on the progress. Other relevant resources and publications also will be posted on this site as they are created. If you have any questions about Health Access or the Sedgwick County Health Information Clearinghouse, feel free to e-mail Roderick Harris, the Director of the Sedgwick County Center for Health Equity, or call 660-7312.