Tag: podcast

Welcome to the Pioneers in Health podcast. Here, we share inspiring stories of pioneering leaders working to improve health. We bring you guests from our state, from our nation and from your backyard to tell their stories of how they broke new ground and changed the landscape of health care. 

Sonja, a Kansas native, is a transformational leader with deep roots in the Community Health Center movement. She has served in leadership roles at multiple Community Health Centers across the country.

Through her leadership at the Community Care Network of Kansas, the team developed key legislative and agency relationships that resulted in a 34% increase in state grant funding and a 72% increase in capital improvement grant funding available to member health centers who serve one in nine people across Kansas.

She also led a multi-agency effort that secured $10 million in grant funding for five member clinics to launch and/or expand integrated behavioral health in primary care clinics, and she launched an Accountable Care Organization to pursue value-based contracts with seven of the network’s FQHC/LAL members.

Sonja earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Washburn University and a Master of Jurisprudence in Health Law from Loyola University Chicago Law School. She also holds the designation of Community Health Center Executive Fellow from the Kansas Medical Center and a Public Policy Certificate from the National Institute of Lobbying and Ethics.

In this episode, Sonja discusses her journey from working in banking and finance to health care and how she found her passion in community health.

She discussed how the civil rights movement led to the Community Health Center movement as a way to serve all people. Community Health Centers increase access to crucial primary care by reducing barriers, such as cost, lack of insurance, distance and language for their patients. In 2023, they served nearly 32.5 million patients.

“The movement has continued to grow, and it just means that no one is left behind,” Sonja said.

She also discusses:

• Technology in health care
• Community Care Network of Kansas’ work
• Her future role at the National Association of Community Health Centers

And much more! Listen now, and learn more about how Sonja is a pioneering leader in health care.

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Listen now

Listen below or on any of your favorite podcast services. Like and subscribe to stay up-to-date with each new episode!

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Please see the Pioneers in Health page on our website for more information on our podcast series and links to other episodes.  

Welcome to our Pioneers in Health podcast! Here, we share inspiring stories of pioneering leaders working to improve health. We bring you guests from our state, from our nation and from your backyard to tell their stories of how they broke new ground and changed the landscape of health care. 

Clay’s work has appeared in more than 100 outlets in two dozen states. He has written columns and edited copy for newsrooms in Kansas, New Hampshire, Florida and Pennsylvania. He has also fact checked politicians, researched for Larry the Cable Guy, and appeared in PolitiFact, Mental Floss and cnn.com.

Before joining the Reflector in 2021, Clay spent four years at the nonprofit Kansas Action for Children as communications director. Beyond the written word, he has drawn cartoons, hosted podcasts, designed graphics and moderated debates.

In this episode, he and Health Fund CEO David Jordan discuss the changing media landscape and how it has affected advocacy organizations.

“It makes it much, much harder,” Clay said. “Full stop.”

In the past, he said, advocacy organizations would send news releases to the media in an effort to educate policy makers and the public about issues of concern. News outlets were always looking for stories. Now, he said, the situation has changed. Now, advocacy groups must communicate directly with their audiences.

“You’re still going to have a role for traditional media. You’re still going to send those press releases. You’re still going to make those calls,” Clay said. “But if you really want to fulfill your mission, you’re going to have to do more stuff direct to your potential audiences.”

In this episode, Clay also discusses:

• His journey into journalism
• The role of local media and how the industry has changed
• How the changing media landscape impacts advocacy organizations and their ability to educate the public and to inform civic debates
• The non-profit news model and strategy
• His decision-making process on writing and sharing opinion pieces
• A book he’s writing about Kansas’ great opinion writers and how they connected with their communities and served as community advocates, as well as the role of opinion writers moving forward
• Misinformation and his perspective as a journalist entering the last weeks before an election (this episode was recorded a month before the Nov. 5 election)
• His hope for the future of Kansas journalism

And much more! Listen now anywhere you listen to your other favorite podcasts.

“There’s never been an audience problem. We’ve always had a lot of people reading what we do — no matter the paper or the platform,” he said of the media industry. “You know, the issue is, frankly, always how you raise the money and how the enterprise is supported.” — Clay Wirestone, Kansas Reflector

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Listen now

Listen below or on any of your favorite podcast services. Like and subscribe to stay up-to-date with each new episode!