The first half of our leadership day started with a Leadership Class Alum. Calvin Jackson, Chief Behavioral Health Officer at Communicare, Inc. welcomed the group. Calvin gave us a quick overview of what they do at Communicare and how many people they serve.
The director of the DDID program at Communicare explained more details of services. DID stands for Developmental/Intellectual Disorder. Our Communicare program serves eight counties, from youth to elderly, and their main goal is to help client achieve independence. They have both residential and community living services, as well as short programs for clients to attend. They partner with other agencies and organizations out in the community to offer their clients a wide variety of programs. Last month, they served over 1,000 clients. They are in every school building in all eight counties.
Communicare has a nationally recognized supportive employment program. This program assists individuals with a developmental or intellectual disorder obtain employment. Regularly scheduled meetings with the client employee offer further support in their employment. The program never refuses anyone seeking assistance for supportive employment. Their goal is to make sure that every person with a disability who wants a job, has a job.
New for Communicare involves using their local in house employees to answer calls to the access center. They no longer contract out their 24/7 access center. The call centers previously contracted to answer the calls were located hundreds of miles away and did not have the knowledge of our community’s resources like we do. For this reason it made sense to cover the access line in house further benefiting all involved. A person can call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and can receive help. Whether it be that they think they’re going to hurt themselves, they took pills and are worried, or they just want information on the programs, anyone can call the access line and talk to someone right here in our eight county area.
The leadership class toured the ARC (Adolescent Recovery Center) of Communicare. This residential facility is a place for youth, both male and female, to receive help with their addiction to alcohol or drugs. Youth are referred to the program by both parents and court, but director Wes Woodard said more often that not, youth who are referred by their parents are less likely to graduate the program. Individuals with the higher success rates are from the court system and are trying to avoid juvenile detention. The facility houses a school room, where they are taught by a retired school teacher. The curriculum allows each person to begin education at the level that fits his/her needs, and they can work through the program at their pace. Youth patients typically stay 30-45 days, although they can stay up to 90 days.
Rebecca Farris-Allen spoke next about the Community Health Clinic. The clinic initially opened to serve Hardin and LaRue counties, but now serves Hardin, LaRue, Meade, Breckinridge and Grayson Counties, and is the only free clinic in our area. It is one of only 1200 across the nation.
The clinic seeks to serve those who are under or uninsured; not the chronically unemployed. Patients must meet strict criteria that prove that they are simply in a transition period or have fallen on hard times. Patients cannot have been unemployed for over 12 months, they must be at 300% of the poverty level (a percentage director Allen pushed for when she knew that too many people were not at the poverty level of 185%, but were still not able to afford adequate insurance coverage). In the five county coverage area, there are still 14,000 unemployed people.
Elizabeth Poynter from the Lincoln Trail District Health Department explained the difference between the LTHD and the Hardin County Health Center, explaining the two often get mixed up. Elizabeth discussed the many factors in community and public health, and explained how the health department’s goal is to be proactive, instead of reactive. Instead of finding ways to help people once they’ve fallen off the cliff, how can we avoid them from being on the edge of the cliff in the first place?
Elizabeth also shared some alarming statistics. Over 70% of Americans have trouble paying their medical bills. We are so chronically diseased that many Americans fully rely on medical staff and healthcare to stay alive. Over 70% of America’s youth are not currently eligible to serve in our military, a majority of those because of their weight. She also shared the mortality rates of the counties in Kentucky. Hardin County is fortunate to be on the higher side, at 77; not the best in the state, but certainly a higher age than many counties. Elizabeth shared two analogies with us: one being the edge of the cliff. The second analogy was about babies that kept being found floating down the river. One “agency” wanted to teach the babies to swim so that they wouldn’t drown. The other wanted to find out who was putting the babies in the river, so that they could be stopped. One is a proactive solution, one a reactive. Both are important aspects of community and public health.
Upon arriving at Hardin County EMS, the leadership class was greeted by Bryce Shumate, Chief Emergency Services Officer for Hardin County Government. Bryce introduced the group to Jamie Armstrong, the Director of Hardin County Emergency Medical Services, and Dr. William Lee, the Hardin County Coroner, who would be conducting the tours of the facility.
Jamie gave a grand tour of what ambulances in Hardin County are equipped with and the cost. Who would have ever guessed the automatic stretcher and the loader that pulls it up into the ambulance approximately cost a combined $47,000.00! Hardin County has three EMS stations located in E-town, Radcliff and Sonora. Hardin County EMS recently received a grant to purchase a 4-wheel drive UTV to reach areas not easily accessible for ambulances – such as the landfill at Saunders Springs and wooded areas. Dr. William Lee guided the tour of the Hardin County Coroner’s Office and explained the various daily tasks of the staff, which consists of 6 officers. The Coroner’s office has 3 coolers that can house up to 6 corpses. Prior to the building of the Coroner’s office, all corpses were housed at the hospital.
Hardin Memorial Hospital hosted lunch for the leadership day. LTC Peter Markot, Deputy Commander for Administration of the Ireland Army Health Clinic, briefed the class on the plans for the new Health Clinic and what the opening of the clinic means for our community.
Wrapping up the speakers for the day was Sharon Wright, the Vice President/Chief Nursing Officer at Hardin Memorial Hospital. She explained the mission and plans for the hospital. Hardin Memorial Hospital (HMH) has over 50 sites located in 10 different counties which serves 1/10th of Kentucky. HMH is nearing completion of the final phase of the emergency room renovations which is scheduled to be complete mid-January 2018. The HMH visit concluded with a tour of the updated emergency room, which includes a new CAT-scan machine located in the trauma wing of the ER.
Dayna Parrett
Cooperative Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences – Hardin County
270.765.4121
Hardin County Cooperative Extension Office
201 Peterson Drive
Elizabethtown, KY 42701
Kayla Rohlff
Member Service Representative
270.765.8659
Fort Knox Federal Credit Union
1650 Ring Road
Elizabethtown, KY 42701
