{"id":329,"date":"2008-05-27T12:02:43","date_gmt":"2008-05-27T18:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/broadcast.branson.com\/?p=329"},"modified":"2008-05-27T12:03:50","modified_gmt":"2008-05-27T18:03:50","slug":"will-you-be-on-the-bus-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/broadcast.branson.com\/2008\/05\/27\/will-you-be-on-the-bus-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Will You Be On The Bus?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Will You Be On The Bus? <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sue Head, Executive Director of The Keeter Center for Character Education at College of the Ozarks and local businessman Ed Akers invited a group of community and religious leaders, business owners, health professionals, community volunteers and a gathering of other interesting folks to an informal luncheon earlier this week. <\/span><\/p>\n

As usual, the food at the Keeter Center was delicious and the company was certainly gracious, but it was a simple statement that keeps replaying over and over in my mind. <\/span><\/p>\n

We need your help. <\/span>Will you be on the bus with us? <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

On the bus? What bus? When I think of buses I think of my 5th<\/sup> grader, bright-eyed and bushy tailed, heading off to expand her mind, play with her friends, baby-step her way into a promising future. Or I think about my dad as a young enlisted airman riding twenty hours on the Greyhound to see my mother one last time before they were separated by the Korean War. <\/span>Or I think about Rosa Parks and the legacy she left for all of us on her courageous bus trip into fairness and decency. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Ok, I\u2019ll bite. What\u2019s so important about this bus trip? <\/span><\/p>\n

It turns out that this bus is bound for Memphis. But it isn\u2019t going to Beale Street, Sun Records, <\/span>Graceland or B.B. King\u2019s blues club. This bus will be stopping, quite frankly, at a medical clinic. But it\u2019s not just any clinic.<\/p>\n

The Church Health Center Clinic, founded in 1987 by Dr. Scott Morris, a family practice physician and ordained United Methodist minister, is described as a place where the working uninsured, their families and the homeless, can find quality, compassionate and affordable medical care. It works through a broad base of financial support from the local faith community and the volunteer efforts of doctors, nurses, dentists and others of generous heart. <\/span><\/p>\n

On the first day it was opened, 12 patients sought treatment from Dr. Morris and his one nurse. <\/span>Today the on-site staff of six physicians, one nurse practitioner, two dentists, an optometrist, a psychiatrist, a pastoral counselor, a social worker, nurses and support staff serve more than 50,000 patients. <\/span>A network of 600 volunteer physicians, nurses, dentists, and other health care professionals keep the Clinic open nights and weekends. <\/span><\/p>\n

Hope & Healing, a wellness center with the emphasis of promoting good health practices and illness prevention, was also established for the community in Memphis. <\/span>What has become the largest privately funded, faith-based, non-profit, primary health-care clinic has been a model for at least 20 other such ventures around the country. <\/span><\/p>\n

Why should we be concerned about a clinic in far-away Memphis? <\/span>The answer to that is readily apparent if you think about it. Branson and the surrounding communities in Stone and Taney Counties have a significant population of the same working uninsured, their families and homeless folks that <\/span>Memphis has reached out to. <\/span>Typically, when situations become dire, these people , our neighbors, seek treatment at the local emergency rooms. Or they don\u2019t seek treatment at all. They don\u2019t have a family physician or dentist or eye doctor.<\/p>\n

Back to the Bus! During the June 19th<\/sup> and 20th<\/sup> bus trip to Memphis, we\u2019ll learn why faith-based health ministries can work, how connections within the community are created, and how the patients are best served through these types of programs. <\/span>The experts in Memphis are eager to share their stories with us. <\/span>And they are eager for us to reach out to our community and make a difference.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Please consider riding the bus! Learn how you and I and our families and our friends can change the face of healthcare for our local at-risk population. <\/span><\/p>\n

For complete information about the trip to The Church Health Center Clinic, please contact:<\/p>\n

Sue Head, Executive Director<\/p>\n

The Keeter Center for Character Education<\/p>\n

P.O. Box 17, Point Lookout, MO 65726<\/p>\n

www.keetercenter.edu \u2022 417-334-6411, ext. 4242<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Will You Be On The Bus? Sue Head, Executive Director of The Keeter Center for Character Education at College of the Ozarks and local businessman Ed Akers invited a group of community and religious leaders, business owners, health professionals, community volunteers and a gathering of other interesting folks to an informal luncheon earlier this week. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/broadcast.branson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/broadcast.branson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/broadcast.branson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/broadcast.branson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/broadcast.branson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/broadcast.branson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/broadcast.branson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/broadcast.branson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/broadcast.branson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}