Thank you for attending our annual Healthy Congregations retreat in Salina, Kansas!
We appreciate everyone who attended our annual Healthy Congregations retreat this year. We hope you enjoyed connecting, learning, sharing and developing relationships with others who share a passion for congregational and community health.
We’ve included resources from the 2026 retreat below. If you posted on social media during the event, we’d love for you to tag us @umhealthfund! And, we hope to see you again in 2027!
Listen below or on any of your favorite podcast services. Like and subscribe to stay up-to-date with each new episode!
Welcome to the Pioneers in Health podcast. In this podcast, we share inspiring stories of pioneering leaders from our nation and from your backyard who are working to improve health.
In episode 48, we interview Christina Holt, who was recently named interim director of the Center for Community Health and Development. She has served six years as the assistant director.
In this episode, she shares how she originally planned on a career in medicine, starting college as a pre-med student with visions of someday opening a free health clinic. Her advisor, knowing her interests, urged her to meet with professor Steve Fawcett, Ph.D. He convinced her to take a community health and development class.
That took her down a new path, where she ended up becoming a member of the Kansas Community Leadership Corps through the Center for Community Health and Development. Through that program, she returned to her hometown of Wichita and worked in HIV and AIDS prevention and intervention. She also worked with youth experiencing homelessness.
“It was really through transformative experiences like that, that it really shaped my interests and introduced the world of prevention to me, and really got me passionate about the idea of prevention and stopping suffering before it even starts,” Christina said.
She changed her major, and that led to a lifelong career with the Center for Community Health and Development.
In this episode, she also discusses:
What the Center for Community Health and Development does
Being designated as a collaborating center with the World Health Organization
The Community Toolbox
Sexual and domestic violence prevention efforts
Partnership with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
The role and power of participatory research and capacity building
What gives her hope
And much more! Listen now, and learn more about how Christina is an innovative leader in Kansas.
Please see the Pioneers in Health page on our website for more information on our podcast series and links to other episodes.
Listen below or on any of your favorite podcast services. Like and subscribe to stay up-to-date with each new episode!
Welcome to the Pioneers in Health podcast. In this podcast, we share inspiring stories of pioneering leaders from our nation and from your backyard who are working to improve health.
In episode 47, we interview Brenda Bandy, executive director of the Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition, Inc. The Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition promotes breastfeeding support through advocacy and education across the state of Kansas.
In this episode, Brenda shares how becoming a mother sparked her interest in becoming involved in breastfeeding advocacy, which became her life’s work.
“I like to say that it began the day my first child was born. Becoming a mom was the beginning,” she said. “I became an advocate the day I became a mom.”
She had challenges with breastfeeding and reached out to La Leche League, which supports breastfeeding mothers, for help. She then began volunteering with that organization, where she helped for almost 20 years.
As she helped moms, she discovered there were common issues many women faced. She started to see there could be a larger impact possible.
“I thought, ‘Oh, if we could only talk to your employer, if we could only talk to the physician’s office or hospital, maybe this could fix the problem for a lot of people and not just one person,” she said. “So that’s kind of what got me curious about how can we work to fix problems further upstream.”
She has now worked in breastfeeding advocacy for several decades and oversees the Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition to provide education and support statewide.
In this episode, she also discusses:
The benefits of breastfeeding for both babies and mothers
The background and mission of Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition, Inc.
Breastfeeding initiation and duration rates
The business case for breastfeeding
The role hospitals and doctors have in increasing breastfeeding rates
The role lactation specialists play
The First 1,000 Days program
Paid leave for mothers
What gives her hope
And much more! Listen now, and learn more about how Brenda is an innovative leader in Kansas.
Please see the Pioneers in Health page on our website for more information on our podcast series and links to other episodes.
Listen below or on any of your favorite podcast services. Like and subscribe to stay up-to-date with each new episode!
Welcome to the Pioneers in Health podcast. In this podcast, we share inspiring stories of pioneering leaders from our nation and from your backyard who are working to improve health.
In episode 46, we interview Dr. Jennifer B. McKenney, MD, FAAFP. She owns and manages her practice, Fredonia Family Care, alongside her father and other colleagues. She was named the 2021 Rural Health Practitioner of the Year by the National Rural Health Association and received the Early Career Achievement Award by the University of Kansas School of Medicine in 2021.
She also is currently the associate dean for rural medical education for the KU School of Medicine. She serves as the Wilson County health officer and is co-chair of the statewide Health Officers of Kansas group. She is a past president of the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians and was the resident member of the AAFP Board of Directors. She serves on the medical staff at Fredonia Regional Hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital. She has made numerous appearances on national and local news covering COVID-19 and rural health.
In this episode, she discusses what led her to pursuing a career in family medicine. She grew up with her father serving as the general surgeon at the local hospital in Fredonia.
“From the very beginning, I was able to see what my dad did for the people in this community, and it was beautiful,” she said.
Seeing the impact her dad had led her to following in her father’s footsteps to become a physician. Now, they work together at Fredonia Family Care.
“For me to be able to give back to the community that gave me so much is really cool,” she said. “Not to mention being able to work alongside my dad. …It really has become everything that I had ever hoped for in coming back to my hometown.”
She also discusses:
The experience of practicing medicine in a small, rural town
How to recruit more physicians to practice in rural areas
Ways her community is working to introduce more students to health care positions
Her rural family medicine fellowship
The importance of family medicine
Serving as the county health officer during the Covid pandemic
The importance of public health
Serving on her local school board
Establishing the Fredonia Area Community Foundation and Cultivate Fredonia, a community growth initiative
Creating Sausage Fest, a popular community festival that raises funds for Fredonia
Opening Oasis Medical Spa
Running a remote scribe company and utilizing technology in health care
Investing in rural hospitals and Medicaid cuts
What gives her hope
And much more! Listen now, and learn more about how Dr. McKenney is an innovative leader in Kansas.
Please see the Pioneers in Health page on our website for more information on our podcast series and links to other episodes.
Listen below or on any of your favorite podcast services. Like and subscribe to stay up-to-date with each new episode!
Welcome to the Pioneers in Health podcast. In this podcast, we share inspiring stories of pioneering leaders from our nation and from your backyard who are working to improve health.
In episode 45, we interview former Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She served as the 21st secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services from 2009-14. As HHS secretary, Sebelius was instrumental in overseeing the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Before becoming secretary, she served as the 44th governor of Kansas from 2003-09, the second woman to hold that office. She currently serves as CEO of Sebelius Resources, LLC, as well as co-chair of the Aspen Institute Health Strategy Group, a nonpartisan group addressing critical U.S. health challenges.
In this episode, Secretary Sebelius discusses how she grew up around politics, with her dad first running for public office when she was just 5 years old.
“I didn’t know families went to football games and picnics. I thought they went door to door and put up yard signs,” she said. “So I kind of grew up in a political family and learned that that was a pretty exciting way to have some influence for the good on your community and on your country.”
Her dad won office and became a city councilman, then a Congressman and then ultimately governor of Ohio. When Sebelius became governor of Kansas in 2003, she became the first daughter of a governor to become governor.
However, she didn’t initially set out to run for office herself. Though she worked on campaigns for others running for office, she never foresaw becoming a candidate herself.
However, her neighbor — whose campaign Sebelius had worked on — approached her and said she wasn’t going to run for office again and encouraged her to run for the seat in the Kansas Legislature.
At the time, her husband was a busy trial attorney, and she served as the director of the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association. She was traveling a lot and working many hours, as was her husband.
“Frankly, I ran for the Legislature not to achieve higher political offices, but to go home,” she said. “It was a part-time job.”
However, she went on to find a career in public service.
“I’d say I backed in to a political career in some ways to really try to find a little balance between my family life and my professional life,” she said.
That decision to first run for office led to four terms in the Kansas Legislature, two terms as the Kansas insurance commissioner, and six years as Kansas governor before ultimately serving in President Barack Obama’s Cabinet as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
In this episode, she also discusses:
Her experience as insurance commissioner
Her time as governor working on health issues
The Affordable Care Act (ACA)
Medicaid expansion
A recent report by the Aspen Institute Health Strategy Group that addresses rural health care
The value of people within a community working together to improve health and how health is at the center of economic development
The importance of modernizing infrastructure
The Rural Health Transformation Fund
ACA premium tax credits
How community conversations can play a role in improving health care
What gives her hope
And much more! Listen now, and learn more about how Secretary Sebelius is an innovative leader in Kansas.
Please see the Pioneers in Health page on our website for more information on our podcast series and links to other episodes.
The Health Fund recently supported two bills that will strengthen the early childhood system and make child care more accessible for Kansas families.
SB 513 — Child Care Assistance Program
This bill strengthens Kansas’ Child Care Assistance Program through direct-to-provider payments. The Child Care Assistance Program is the state’s most reliable way to improve access to to child care. However, administrative challenges create barriers for providers to participate. Only 40% of the state’s providers currently participate in the program. Child care providers often site administrative burdens and difficulties collecting payments as major deterrents. Without provider participation, it makes it harder for families to participate. And, only 7.4% of potentially eligible children receive child care subsidy.
By paying providers directly, it would encourage more participation, and therefore more access to affordable child care for Kansas families.
This bill modernizes Kansas’ employer child care tax credit to make it more accessible, more effective and more responsive to the needs of Kansas families and employers. Access to reliable, affordable child care is essential for the health and well-being of children and families, and it’s critical to maintaining a strong workforce and economy.
The current Child Day Care Assistance Tax Credit has the potential to encourage employer investment in child care solutions, but it is significantly underutilized. Although employers routinely identify child care as a major barrier to hiring and retention, only a small number take advantage of the credit because the statute is overly complex, narrowly tailored and difficult to navigate.
SB 521 addresses these challenges by modernizing and expanding the employer child care tax credit to make it simpler, more generous and far more useful.
Listen below or on any of your favorite podcast services. Like and subscribe to stay up-to-date with each new episode!
Welcome to the Pioneers in Health podcast. In this podcast, we share inspiring stories of pioneering leaders from our nation and from your backyard who are working to improve health.
In episode 44, we interview Dr. Donna Ginther. She is the Roy A. Roberts & Regents Distinguished Professor of Economics, Director of the Institute for Policy & Social Research at the University of Kansas, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Prior to joining the University of Kansas faculty, she was a research economist and associate policy adviser in the regional group of the Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta from 2000 to 2002 and taught at Washington University from 1997 to 2000 and Southern Methodist University from 1995 to 1997.
Her major fields of study are scientific labor markets, gender differences in employment outcomes, wage inequality, science policy and investments in children.
A native of Wisconsin, Dr. Ginther received her doctorate in economics in 1995, master’s degree in economics in 1991, and bachelor’s degree in economics in 1987, all from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In this episode, Donna shares how she first became interested in economics at an early age.
“I became interested in economics when I saw the economy affect my family. My dad was working for an automobile manufacturer and lost his job for several months in 1982 when we had a very deep recession,” she said. ” And I realized that the economy has an impact on everyday people.”
She pursued a bachelor’s degree and ultimately a master’s and doctorate degree in economics.
Now, as a distinguished economics professor, she shares about some of her recent and current research — much of which focuses on the drivers of inequality.
She discusses:
Her research on women in economics
Labor markets and how family structure affects educational outcomes
Research on how better access to public programs, including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), reduces foster care placements and the number of children maltreated
How artificial intelligence is impacting the labor market
How inequality isn’t good for the economy or health
The Institute for Policy & Social Research
Property tax policies
The impact of federal dollars on state economic activity
The economic impact of not expanding Medicaid to include more Kansans
What excites her and gives her hope
And much more! Listen now, and learn more about how Donna is an innovative leader in Kansas.
Please see the Pioneers in Health page on our website for more information on our podcast series and links to other episodes.
Community health workers help bridge the gap between their communities and health care and social services. They provide culturally responsive care, improve access to services and address social drivers of health — including food insecurity, housing instability and transportation barriers. They extend the reach of health care teams by offering follow-up, education and support beyond clinical settings.
In Kansas, CHWs are especially critical in rural areas, where geographic isolation, provider shortages and chronic diseases are more pronounced.
Since 2011, Kansas has made significant strides in building a strong, sustainable CHW workforce. Though considerable progress has been made, continued efforts are necessary to support, sustain and scale CHWs in our state.
The Health Fund recently convened partners from across the state to plan for CHW sustainability. This report discusses what areas were identified as critical to sustaining CHWs in Kansas, as well as recommendations for action.
Registration is now open for our annual retreat April 16-17 in Salina, Kansas!
Come experience the Gift of Community at this year’s annual retreat. This two-day event is designed to leave you feeling inspired and connected to others who are passionate about the health of their congregations and communities. It will be held at the Homewood Suites in Salina, Kansas, April 16-17.
The event is free to attend and is open to all Healthy Congregations members or United Methodists in the Great Plains Conference.
The Health Fund will cover the hotel costs for any attendee who needs to stay the night. Simply indicate that while filling out the registration form below. Details about the hotel are also below. Those needing hotel rooms must register by March 19; room availability cannot be confirmed after this date.
Please indicate on the registration form if you’ll need a hotel room.
REGISTRATION
Registration for the 2026 Healthy Congregations Retreat is now closed. Please contact info@healthfund.org with any questions. Thank you for your interest.
Health Fund President and CEO David Jordan received the Rural Health Advocate of the Year award by the National Rural Health Association Feb. 10 during the NRHA’s Rural Health Policy Institute.
He received the award as recognition for his extraordinary dedication to the health of rural Americans.
In presenting the award, NRHA leadership said David facilitated partnerships that helped the NRHA serve as a leading voice on rural Medicaid this past year.
“We really appreciate your work and commitment to rural communities,” said Alexa Mckinley Abel, NRHA director of government affairs and policy.
