A new pediatric wing at Kansas City’s Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center opening on November 7 will host medical, behavioral, dental, and social services with a focus on preventative care for underinsured and uninsured patients.
“I don’t know if you have been to the ER lately, but it is a scary place,” said Samuel U. Rodgers’ CEO, Bob Theis. “A lot of people are going there for their primary care, and we want to keep people out of there and get [them] a relationship with their primary care provider.”
With many specialties operating in the same space, Theis said it allows for collaboration between providers and makes patients aware of all the services and benefits available to them. It’s an effort to increase preventative care, which Theis said became a low priority during and after the pandemic.
Theis said he hopes this new space also helps combat the area’s high Black maternal mortality rate. Too often, Theis said, new mothers only focus on the care of their children and not themselves. The new center will allow medical professionals to check up on both the mother and newborn, no matter what appointment they make.
This focus on maternal health was also a priority for the person after whom the health center is named, Samuel Rodgers. Rodgers was the fifth black, certified gynecologist in the country, and the first black examiner for the OBGYN medical board.
According to a past Kansas City Star article, Rodgers believed everyone deserved treatment no matter their racial or socioeconomic background. Theis said this attitude is reflected now in a sliding discount scale for patients to pay based on their income.
- Bob Theis, CEO of Samuel U. Rodgers
