Samaritan Health Ministries - Blog

DENTAL CARE AND ORAL HEALTH TIPS

7/29/2020

While our Dental area has temporarily closed during this challenging time, we thought we might take this opportunity to discuss some things you can do at home to keep your teeth and gums as healthy as possible until we are able to see you again.

Here are a few tips which can be very helpful for your oral health:

BRUSH YOUR TEETH TWICE EACH DAY AND FLOSS ONCE EACH DAY: This is crucial for limiting the potential effects of bacteria and plaque, which can create painful cavities and dramatically increase the possibility of gum disease.
RINSE WITH AN ALCOHOL-FREE MOUTHWASH TWICE DAILY: If you have alcohol-free mouthwash on hand, please rinse your mouth with it twice per day. Since certain anti-bacterial agents and alcohol may possibly have a negative effect on the body’s immune system, it’s recommended that toothpastes and mouthwashes without those ingredients be utilized during this time. In addition, rinsing 3-4 times daily with salt-water has been shown to be effective for keeping your mouth healthy!

CLEAN YOUR TOOTHBRUSH: Viruses can attach to the plastic, soft bristles, and other components of a toothbrush. Therefore, it’s best to clean toothbrushes on a regular basis. A good soak in mouthwash combined with a bit of hydrogen peroxide, followed by a thorough rinse under the faucet, can help maintain a clean toothbrush.

New Leadership at SHM!

7/15/2020

Selena Muñoz was named as the new Executive Director at Samaritan Health Ministries in June. On her first day she said,

“I am so impressed with the SHM team for their dedication to ensuring we continued to provide quality services to our patients during a challenging time of transition. I’m excited about this opportunity to use my experience to provide direction and guidance to Samaritan Health Ministries, and I look forward to working with the staff, Board and volunteers to support our mission into the future.”

Originally from Fort Bend County, Selena has lived in Leander since 2001. She has worked for over 25 years in the nonprofit sector including in the areas of child welfare, domestic violence and community health.

She has extensive experience in fundraising, volunteer and staff management, nonprofit operations, process improvement and program evaluation for performance outcomes. Selena received a BA in Policy and Legal Studies from Rice University; she attended the LBJ School at The University of Texas at Austin and received a Master of Public Administration from Birmingham University in England.

Selena was most recently the Chief Program Officer at the Literacy Coalition of Central Texas. In this role, she was responsible for a thirty member team including directors, managers, Americorps members and interns; for funding and managing a two million dollar budget; new program development and implementation; program integration and aligning services across the organization for outsized impact.

She is passionate about social justice, equity and access issues. She believes in the power of Servant Leadership and adheres to a strengths based approach to management. Selena has traveled extensively and, in her spare time, she volunteers and fosters for poodle rescue.

Please join us in welcoming Selena to the SHM Team!

Samaritan Health Ministries Relocation

7/8/2020

SHM has continued to have a tremendous amount of growth. Over the past five years, our number of patients has increased by 66% and our patient encounters has increased by 92%. SHM has spent the past 17 years operating out of a 2,400 sq ft triple-wide trailer with four exam rooms and three dental operatories. SHM has maximized the use of this building as much as possible, and we have ultimately outgrown the space.

The new clinic site will be approximately 4,400 sq ft which enables us to add two additional exam rooms for a total of six exam rooms. We will also be adding an additional dental operatory for a total of four dental operatories. This increase in square footage will provide adequate space that will allow us to have more volunteers to include administrative volunteers and clinical volunteers such as physicians and dentists. In our current building, we have to limit the number of volunteers we can have due to our extremely limited space.

Samaritan Health Ministries is so excited for this growth so that access to affordable medical, dental, mental health, and pharmaceutical services to the uninsured are provided in the growing community.

We need your help. COVID-19 has greatly impacted our budget and timeline for moving into our new building. Donations of furniture, supplies, and equipment are needed to transition staff, volunteers, and patients to the new building. Click the link below to access our donation page if you would like to donate monetarily.

Listed below are the items we are needing currently. If you, your organization, or someone you know is interested in donating items, please contact Lindsay Brewster at lbrewster@theshm.org.

Desktops
Laptops
Monitors
Printers
Akro Bins
Storage furniture

A Heartfelt Thank You

6/5/2020

Mrs. Erika Pratt, the Executive Director of Samaritan Health Ministries (SHM) for eight and a half years, has stepped down from her position to move to Houston for family reasons.

Through Erika’s efforts and those of our volunteers and staff, SHM has expanded its times and days of service dramatically, while enhancing the types of care that we offer to our clients. SHM has always been volunteer based, but with Erika’s help, we have also become a staff-supplemented model of care that ensures the continuity of services so vital to the health of our patients. This model has served SHM especially well during the current pandemic. Many of our volunteers are in a high-risk category. Thus, the reason that SHM has been able to remain open to serve patients is that we have staff who are able to provide care.

Erika has helped to recruit a variety of providers to the SHM care family and this has resulted in outstanding health outcomes for our patients. Erika’s devotion helped SHM become a clinic that now provides medical, dental, mental health, counseling, women’s health, pharmacy, vision testing and infectious disease services. Her efforts moved SHM from a very part-time, acute care facility to one open full-time plus evenings and serving as a home for medical care for more than 1400 patients in the Greater Williamson County area with approximately 7400 visits and more than 11,000 prescriptions filled in 2019.

By significantly expanding the SHM funding base, Erika has enabled SHM to serve more families and provide more patient visits each week than many in the local community would have thought possible. By being a veritable outreach engine, Erika has helped SHM develop a large community of SHM ambassadors to let potential patients, volunteers and donors know about this wonderful ministry.

On behalf of the SHM board and for myself, I thank Erika with all my heart for her outstanding service to SHM and to the community. As we all carry on together, we know that Erika’s example will help us continue to grow this ministry into what our Lord has envisioned.

Dr. Rich Wilcox, SHM Board Chair

MLK Day of Service: Share Your Story Event

1/24/2016

photo credit: Melissa Vetter

It was our pleasure to host an event on MLK Day in partnership with United Way of Williamson County. We had volunteers, staff, and patients come to record their stories from the clinic and save them on StoryCorps. StoryCorps is an organization whose mission is to record America's stories for future generations in the Library of Congress. You can see the evolving/finished (and evolving) product on our StoryCorps page.

In honor of #StarWars

12/18/2015

We need your votes for the Holiday Door Contest!

12/13/2015

Cast your vote for your favorite holiday door! We may be a small clinic but we know how to get creative with our doors!

A) This is the door to our pharmacy. "Falalalala" Clean, simple elegance at its best.

B) This is the dental clinic door with a clever Christmas tree made of teeth. If you look closely you'll see our volunteer dentists' names inscribed on the teeth. Can we say, "I put your name on a tooth, now you must vote for me..."?

C) This is the door to our office area. Star Wars: Christmas Awakens. Admittedly, we've got one or two Star Wars nuts on staff.

D) This is the door to the provider room. Wellness Winter Wonderland. Our team got really crafty with their glove Christmas tree, snowman made of plastic cups, and wreath of medical supplies.

So which door is the winner? Cast your vote in the comment section or on our facebook post! We're also collecting ballots at the clinic. Merry Christmas!

No More Poverty Jargon

10/26/2015

Nonprofits like ours use the Federal Poverty Guidelines to learn more about the people they/we serve. But what is the precise definition of poverty?‪

Texas Uninsured Rates are Stuck in 1985

10/26/2015

"Whoa, Doc, in 2015 there are still 1 in 5 Texans without health insurance."--Marty McFly, Back to the Future Part II [edited out of the movie, we presume]
Today marks the day that Marty McFly traveled into the future from 1985. He entered a world of hover boards, world champion Chicago Cubs, and cars using garbage for fuel. McFly may not have noticed how many Texans were uninsured in 1985 vs. today, but we thought it would be fun to find out.

Today in Texas, estimates show that 15 to 19 percent of Texans remain uninsured. In 1985, the rate was 20 percent. Score one for improvements!

In raw numbers of uninsured Texans, however, we had 3.2 million in 1985 and today we have 5 million. Today Texas ranks dead last for the highest numbers of uninsured residents. In 1985 we were 48th, besting Oklahoma and Arkansas. We think Texas can do better!

We're proud to be a clinic serving the uninsured. Our volunteers work hard to make sure that people without health insurance have a medical home apart from the hospital emergency room. Hey, we all know someone who is uninsured, right?

Your financial support helps us to continue providing care for the uninsured of today. Thank you!

Volunteers are joining Volunteer Spot

10/21/2015

Attention Clinic Volunteers,

In the next few weeks, volunteers will begin receiving emails from Volunteer Spot to remind you of your volunteer schedule. We're moving our volunteer management to Volunteer Spot, which is a very easy way to sign up for openings, to swap volunteer times with others, and to manage the clinic calendar.

We hope this helps all of us to run a smooth clinic for volunteers and patients!

Thank you!