Hands-On Expereince: Public Health Intern Contributes To Billing Initiatives Project | by Elizabeth Toney

Elizabeth Toney

In the beginning…all I knew about the Center for Community Support and Research (CCSR) was what I could assume from the name of the organization and its association with Wichita State University. Community suggested one’s local neighborhood, support spoke of helping, lending a hand, and its association with WSU spoke of education. When I found that CCSR had a current public health initiatives project that involved medical billing and coding I was excited to get the chance to learn how public assistance programs functioned. Through their billing project I hoped to gain a better understanding of the public health reimbursement process. This was going to be an opportunity to put into action the skills I learned from my bachelor’s degree in Health Services Management and associate’s degree in billing and coding.

Working with the Public Health Initiatives team of Sonja, Aaron, Vanessa, and Kristina along with Executive Director Scott Wituk I have had an opportunity to become exposed to a public health program that helps those who struggle with access to health care. CCSR is currently involved with a Local Health Department Billing initiative project for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and Kansas Association of Local Health Departments (KALHD) towards maximizing sustainability of the local health departments. The Billing initiative provided opportunity for me to utilize my skills in determining types of valuable training programs that would help improve the billing practices and processes of health departments and minimize claim denials.

After research, the necessary information was utilized to create a two page training and professional certification guide that can be used when deciding to invest in training for billing staff to become certified. The guide provides sources for online training programs and a choice of medical biller certifications available. Though certification is not required it can benefit staff at the facilities obtaining reimbursement. This hands-on project gave me an opportunity to improve my research, decision making, planning, and communication skills.

This practicum opportunity allowed me to improve upon my own leadership skills. I had the opportunity to attend meetings of local coalition groups like Interfaith Ministries and Visioneering Wichita and participate in the discussion of past and upcoming public programs to assist those in need. All of my core competency skills have been improved through observing the leadership style of the Public Health Initiative team and the CCSR staff. It has been a real pleasure to have the opportunity to work with a group of dedicated people.

Internship in Public Health | With comments by Breanna Sneed

Breanna at a conference in April.

The Public Health Initiatives team at the Wichita State University Center for Community Support and Research (CCSR) continues to expand its reach and scope, impacting a variety of individuals, communities, and systems across the State. At the individual level, the team works closely with students from various programs at WSU, including those working to complete their degrees in Health Service Management and Community Development. 

“My internship experience at [CCSR] was a great experience for me”, writes Breanna Sneed, who joined CCSR in her final semester in the program. “It opened my eyes to things that I was not aware of in Public Health.”

At the community level, the CCSR Public Health Initiatives (PHI) team supports initiatives like the Visioneering Health Alliance in the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area and Project 17, representing 17 counties in Southeast Kansas. The Visioneering Health Alliance recently held a forum at the Kansas Leadership Center focused on community efforts to improve healthy eating behaviors.

Of the many speakers at this forum, Breanna writes, “I was ‘wowed’ by Mim McKenzie, of the Greater Wichita YMCA, and her information about the YMCA’s efforts to improve the community and outreach to young people.”

To support Project 17’s efforts to develop a regional Health Improvement Plan that will be used to work toward their goal of using regional cooperation to improve the quality of life for their communities, Breanna assisted in gathering research data from the public health systems in Southeast Kansas. “With this project, I was able to develop multiple core competency skills including leadership and communication.”

In addition to supporting the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in the roll-out and support of a new initiative within the KanCare system, called “Health Homes”, and other system level initiatives, CCSR’s PHI team is partnering with the Kansas Association of Local Health Departments to develop prioritized funding recommendations that aim to improve the public health emergency preparedness system across the state.

“This project allowed me to demonstrate leadership and system thinking as I assisted in putting together questions for those participating in the emergency preparedness planning so that, when we came together, it would open the door for better discussion.” Breanna Sneed writes, “By doing my internship at CCSR, it has helped me grow and my leadership and public health skills have greatly improved.”

In keeping with the CCSR mission, the PHI team will continue to work with individuals, communities and systems to strengthen Kansas. This will include working with students like Breanna Sneed and others, who are essential to our success.

My Internship | by Cameron Hall

My internship at the Wichita State University’s Center for Community Support and Research (CCSR) has been invaluable. As a marketing major, I have learned that some aspects of nonprofit marketing are different from traditional marketing. I developed and implemented our social media for CCSR’s 30^th anniversary. In addition, I also discovered some challenges to being part of the University system.

Wu and Cameron

I participate on an anniversary open house planning committee and everyone was happy with our media coverage. I coordinated advertising on the campus TV circuit. At first it was a challenge to find the people I needed to communicate with, but as time progressed I become more confident and was able to meet my goals. Our social media campaign had just as big an effect as the other options we considered. The numbers of “likes” to our Facebook posts and pages have definitely increased.

My ability to stay organized has improved drastically. There were always four or five things that I could be working on at any given time. My intern supervisor, Angela Gaughan, helped keep me on track and I was able to develop an efficient routine. Everyone at the CCSR was very helpful and willing to fit me into their schedule. For example, when I interview Operations Coordinator, Candy Youle, she set up a time the day after I asked to meet with her. Seeing everyone at the CCSR balance such packed schedules has been motivational. I get more done in a day now than I did when I began my internship.

The one thing that stuck out the most to me during this internship was how little recognition CCSR gets. I learned about their specific target audiences; coalitions, nonprofits, communities, and other organizations that benefit from CCSR’s work. Outside of these, not very many people know or understand how great the center is for their communities. More people are becoming aware of CCSR’s influence both in and outside of their target audiences. Hopefully this trend will continue, because CCSR has a huge impact on the state of Kansas. I’ve enjoyed being a part of the efforts.

Certified Peer Specialists training expands to include advanced training opportunities

Certified Peer Specialists (CPS) are professionals committed to building on their existing base of knowledge and staying up-to-date on new developments in their field.  They want to see that their profession, with its unique emphasis on shared experience, continues to grow and be used effectively in communities and organizations across Kansas.

CCSR’s CPS training faculty is providing advanced trainings and a new approach to individual and organizational support for individuals who work at Community Mental Health Centers, State Psychiatric Hospitals, as well as other venues.

CPS advanced trainings enhance the abilities of peer specialists to facilitate the recoveries of other mental health consumers in Kansas. Like the peer specialist basic training, advanced trainings emphasize the use of shared experience and promote self-determination and empowerment.

“[T]he training had immense educational value and was very eye opening to the issues in this field,” said Christopher Leach. “Also I felt that the diversity in the members of the training team complimented one another wonderfully to deliver a very well rounded training experience.”

CCSR offers more than a dozen advanced trainings covering a broad range of CPS-specific topics such as:  relationship-building, trauma-informed care, and spirituality. 

In addition to the advanced trainings for CPSs, the CCSR Research Team is continuing efforts to expand the number of questions that can be used on the certification test for CPSs. Although the actual length of the test may not change, having such a question bank is a way to ensure validity, reliability and generalizability of the test.  It is hoped that through the Research Team’s work, the certification test can become a standard for the field.

Funding for CCSR’s Mental Health Initiative from the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services allows advanced trainings and technical assistance to be provided at no cost to Kansas community mental health centers and state hospitals. Interested organizations outside of the Kansas public mental health system are encouraged to contact CCSR Mental Health Initiative staff about professional development opportunities for their peer support providers.

A list of available Advanced Trainings is available on the Training Teams website, TrainingTeams.org. Custom trainings are available. For more information on trainings, contact Christine Young, CPS, peer educator, at christine.young@wichita.edu or (316) 978-3224. More information is also available here.

For individual or organizational technical assistance, contact Simon Messmer, CPS, Mental Health systems specialist at simon.messmer@wichita.edusimon.messmer@wichita.edu or (316) 712-9500.

Trauma Informed Systems of Care makes powerful impact in Kansas | Teresa Strausz, MSOD, LMSW

Trauma of all types can impose a profound impact on individuals, families, organizations, and communities. Recognition of this impact, evidenced by research, prompted the need for systemic, trauma-informed changes. Building on previous work, the Trauma-Informed Systems of Care (TISC) team emphasized cultivating compassionate cultures in organizations to reflect the values of empowerment, safety, collaboration, trustworthiness, and choice for all staff and persons receiving services.

In 2013, CCSR staff participated in conversations with over 200 Kansas providers, raising awareness of trauma’s influence on clients and staff and initiating conversations to support systemic change. Work with the organizations ranged from initial discussions about TISC to formation of a TISC Leadership Team poised to launch organization-wide change. 

 Staff presented at the Kansas Conference on Poverty organized by the Kansas Association of Community Action Program staff. Regarding the workshops, Jesyca H. Rodenberg, communications & outreach director, Kansas Association of Community Action Programs said, Participants came away from the CCSR Trauma-Informed Care sessions we hosted raving, and I know lives were changed because of what was learned.”

In addition to conference appearances, staff helped organizations create vision, expectations and strategies for implementing TISC, provided individual and team coaching, developed an organization assessment, and engaged in collaborative partnership building with stakeholders in Kansas. In conjunction with the Research team, TISC staff also developed a plan for an evaluation of THRIVE© (Gina C. Maree, 2012), the framework upon which our approach is based.

As a result of these efforts, we hope to provide organizations with tools that will enable them to support and sustain their desire for a more trauma-informed system within which to work and serve.

For more information about Trauma-Informed Systems of Care, contact Teresa Strausz, MSOD, LMSW, at teresa.strausz@wichita.edu or 316-978-6778.

Letter from the executive director | by Scott Wituk

Scott Wituk

I hope you will join us this year in celebrating CCSR’s 30^th anniversary. Over the past three decades we have been fortunate to contribute to many local and statewide initiatives to improve the health and well-being of Kansans. These projects have reached thousands of Kansans through community coalitions, grassroots groups, nonprofits, civic and government institutions, self-help support groups, public health departments, state agencies, community foundations, schools, local businesses and other groups and organizations that are the fabric of Kansas communities. 

A handful of the initiatives from the past 30 years include:

• Community Development For Healthy Children
• Healthy Community Initiative
• Compassion Kansas
• Project Access
• A Statewide Network of Consumer Run Organizations (CROs)
• Leadership training and coaching for SRS, KDADS, and KDHE staff
• Building a Statewide Network of Certified Peer Specialists (CPSs)

In addition, we have maintained one of the largest collections of self-help support groups in the United States, providing access to hundreds of support groups for Kansans who are interested in helping and benefiting from other Kansans who share similar experiences. A true example of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. 

In order to be most responsive to the needs of Kansas communities and organizations, we’ve focused our efforts into several service areas (described in more detail below), including:  Leadership Development, Organizational Capacity Building, Community Collaboration, Research & Evaluation, and our Mental Health Initiative. It is through these services areas, often working together, that we can assist individuals, organizations, and communities as they make progress on the issues most important to them.  

Some may know that Evelyn Middlestadt, a Wichita social worker, started the Self-Help Network from her kitchen table. After her idea grew, Dr. Greg Meissen brought the Self-Help Network to Wichita State University in the late 1980s. Dr. Meissen, along with others, contributed to its growth into the Center for Community Support and Research (CCSR).  Over the years, we grew from several small offices in the corner of Jabara Hall to occupying several floors at the WSU Downtown Center at Third Street & Main. Staff grew from under a handful to now over 40 full and part-time staff. The continued dedication and commitment of CCSR staff to providing the highest quality of work and assistance is why this Center has been as successful and why it remains a special place that I’m glad to be a part of for the past 20 years of my career. 

While much has been accomplished, CCSR and its Kansas partners, have much more to do. I look forward to the future and excited about the possibilities.  

This letter is from the 2013 Annual Report. For the rest of the document, go to:  http://www.wichita.edu/ccsr/ccsrannualreport.

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