Pittsburg — The phone rings at the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas. It is a school nurse 100 miles away, desperate for help. A young boy is in pain. His mouth is so swollen he can barely talk. For days the cafeteria attendants have served him oatmeal, the only food he can gum and digest. His grandmother is disabled, unable to take him to a dentist.

"This nurse remembered us from a school screening we had done at her previous school. We were her last resort," says Krista Postai, CEO of the health center. "They brought the boy to us."

Suffering from a severe tooth infection, the child was frighteningly close to sepsis and shock.

"Thankfully, we were able to get the tooth out, and provide antibiotics. In a few days he was eating, putting weight back on and very happy."

Welcome to the front lines of health care in one of the poorest regions in Kansas. Residents of Crawford and Cherokee Counties have among the lowest per capita incomes of any areas of the state. And it's not simply an economic downturn. Postal, a native of Pittsburg, puts the situation into perspective.

"We're talking about generational poverty; 100 years of poverty. What's different about this kind of poverty is that people do not hope for anything different. But I am proud to say we are bringing hope."

The Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas is one of many safety net providers across the state making miracles happen every day. The clinic began as an outreach program of the local hospital, where Postai worked for 23 years. The program’s original intent was to provide child immunizations and physicals prior to school. But the overwhelming need for medical services made it clear more needed to be done.

On May 1, 2003, the clinic opened its doors. But with only fifteen percent of costs covered by federal dollars, the clinic like many others, had to develop a plan to support itself.

The first funding for the young clinic—outside of money from Medicaid, private insurance and direct services—came from the Sunflower Foundation for the purchase of a practice management system. The purchase gave the clinic the ability to schedule, bill and track patients electronically.

“It was essential for our survival,” Postai says. “We needed to establish our infrastructure and build our capacity to respond to the health care needs of our community and region.”

In its first year, the Community Health Center saw 700 patients per month. In 2008, Postai expects the number to be 4,500 a month. In May 2007, the Center opened a new 15,000 square foot facility—home to 75 employees—offering medical, mental and dental services.

Since the early Capacity Building Grant, the clinic has received funding under the Sunflower Foundation’s Bridge Grant program, which helps safety net providers expand services and hire medical, dental and mental health staff. The Bridge Grant program provides interim funding for these positions until the clinic is able to sustain the costs through patient fees, insurance payments and other state and federal funds.

A perfect example of this, Postai says, was a small grant to cover a dentist’s salary for one year at the clinic, for just one day a week. Today that dentist is self-sufficient, providing services in cooperation with the clinic at a freestanding 5,000 square foot building, impacting the lives of thousands.

That same model of seed money followed by self-sufficiency and expanded care has been repeated in mental health, as well. The clinic now offers treatment for depression, play therapy, and other psychological services for children.

The Center has just opened a second clinic in Columbus, 30 miles south of Pittsburg, with plans for another location in Baxter Springs. Again, the focus is medical, dental and mental health services.

“We catch a lot of people,” says Postai. “But there are a lot more people to catch.”