LEADERSHIP KEARNEY CLASS #34 JANUARY SESSION

Leadership Kearney Class #34 kicked off their Health and Human services day at the Central Nebraska Veterans home. The morning started off with an Elderly services panel consisting of Kim Grabenstein (Angels Care Progressive), Dave Kreutzer (Central Nebraska Veterans Home), RaLynn Jacobsen (South Central Nebraska Area Agency on Aging) and Dr. Miller (Schrock Medical Clinic). The panelists talked about their roles and everything they do to try and help the elderly. From in-home care, to inpatient/outpatient care, all the way to helping with Medicaid applications. The hot topic of the panel was insurance. Many times the insurance that saves money and looks flashy (Advantage Plans) are typically the insurance that is the hardest to work with and doesn’t cover what the patients need.

From there, Dave Kreutzer guided the class around the Central Nebraska Veterans Home where the class was able to see how the facility acted more like a community and small village over the traditional nursing home. The class was able to tour the library, barber shop, bank, fox hole(gas station style food and drink), ceramic shop, wood working shop, and chapel all in the central core of the veterans home. Next, the class toured the patient neighborhoods. There are 6 separate wings Alpha/Bravo/Charlie/Delta/Echo/Foxtrot, all named after the military call signs. The east and west side of the building each have 3 of these wings with a central hub at the center. The class was able to tour the living quarters in these wings, to see where residents live, eat, and have various activities.

Then, the class traveled across town to tour Kearney Regional Medical Center. The class toured the facility and was able to see how it has rapidly grown over the years, and was able to see how it will continue to grow over the next several years. After the tour at KRMC, the class heard from panelists regarding Kearney Area Human Service. Panel members were Nikki Gausman (Safe Center), Sarah Koch (Grace Foundation), Gaye Tillotson (Collage) and Margot Icenogle (CASA). The panelists talked about their roles and their everyday life that help people not only in the Kearney community, but the surrounding communities as well. Their services range anywhere from free and confidential pregnancy/STD testing, to cancer care, to helping kids and adults struggling with abuse and neglect, to sexual assault and human trafficking. The main area of need for all these Human Services is volunteers and awareness.

The class then traveled to CHI Health Good Samaritan. The visit started off with a tour of Good Samaritan's Flight/EMS, the morgue, and the cardiovascular hybrid room before sitting down for a discussion with another group of panelists. This panel consisted of Lacey Witt (Richard Young Behavioral Health), Dana Welsh (Good Samaritan Hospital Cancer Center), Joe Radke (Good Samaritan Hospitalist) and Abby Olson (Good Samaritan Care Coordinator). The panel discussed their roles in their respective fields and how the medical scene has evolved over the years, especially with COVID and what it did to the healthcare workforce. A couple of other hot button topics were: having hard conversations with family members about what they

want/need medically, and the fact that 16 nursing homes in Nebraska have closed since 2020, leaving a large gap in care in central Nebraska.

From CHI, the class traveled to Family Advocacy Network to hear from Jamie Vetter (Director of Family Advocacy Network) about all the great things FAN does for the surrounding area kids and adults. Some items she mentioned were forensic interviews, forensic medical examinations, SANE Examinations, testing for drug exposed children, advocacy services and case coordination. We were also able to hear from Andrea Kemp (Program Supervisor), Breanna Schroeder (MDT Coordinator), Bob Hock (Outreach and Education Coordinator), Christie Hernandez (Forensic Interview Specialist), and Jessica Schroeder (Forensic Interview Specialist) about daily operations and services provided to the surrounding communities.

For the last stop of the day, the class traveled to Horner Lieske McBride & Kuhl Funeral Home, where we were able to tour the mortuary, guided by Denny Harrahill (Funeral Director). The class learned about day-to-

day operations of funeral home and the detail that goes in to planning from start to finish. The class was also able to learn about the embalming process and how it takes place.

Leadership Kearney Class #34 had a fulfilling day of learning about Health and Human

Services. The biggest take away from the day was hearing about how awareness and education

is needed throughout the communities. Many people in the community have no idea about the

resources available to them in the great community of Kearney!