ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
The Liberal Area Coalition for Families joined the Pathways to a Healthy Kansas initiative through Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas (BCBSKS) in 2017.
Pathways is the largest community grant initiative ever funded by BCBSKS combining community-wide, evidence-based solutions and practices to help Kansas communities improve active living, healthy eating and commercial tobacco prevention.
BCBSKS Blue Health Initiative Director Virginia Barnes said the initiative provides community coalitions like LACF with the tools and resources needed to engage their community and remove barriers to healthy living.
“LACF has done amazing work over the last seven years, and as this phase of the Pathways initiative comes to a close, we want to celebrate all that has been accomplished,” she said.
Built on the premise of Kansans serving Kansans and a belief of everyone working together can make a big difference, BCBSKS works alongside Kansas communities such as those in Seward County to make the Sunflower State a better place to live their healthiest lives.
“Through partnerships with local organizations like LACF, Blue Cross supports the social determinants of health or the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age,” Barnes said. “The social determinants of health play a large role in shaping individual and community health outcomes because they influence access to resources, opportunities and behaviors that impact a person’s overall well-being.”
Barnes said through the work of LACF, the progress that is made when these important issues are addressed can clearly be seen. She added Coalition Director Sarah Mersdorf-Foreman, Special Projects Coordinator Julie Foster, the coalition and its partners have been outstanding collaborators with the Pathways initiative.
“Together, we’ve brought 35 Pathways implementation grants, investing more than $600,000 across Seward, Haskell and Stevens counties,” Barnes said. “Pathways is built around the idea that transformative community change happens when we can find ways to work well together.”
Barnes said this certainly the case with LACF.
“Through Pathways, we’ve gotten to collaborate with several childcare centers, support work at food pantries, help build a community kitchen at Baker Arts Center and support broader collaboration around health across the region through community health needs assessment with the Stevens County Health Department and Satanta District Hospital,” she said. “We are also excited for work with Seward County Community College to make pickleball courts available for community members to get out and get active.”
As the state’s only locally owned, not-for-profit insurance company, Barnes said BCBSKS cares about the people and communities of Kansas.
“By partnering with organizations and groups across our state, we’re able to improve the health of all Kansans,” she said. “Kansas thrives when we all work together.”
