2008 Mt. Sterling Health Initiative

From 1990 through 2000, Kentucky ranked 7th in the nation in the growth of its Hispanic population.  Many of these newly arrived individuals were migrant and seasonal farm workers who lacked adequate health coverage. In Montgomery County, Kentucky the number of Hispanic residents increased by 362% during that ten-year period. Complicating the matter of uninsured Hispanic populations are issues of immigration status, language barriers, and transportation to health facilities. From Montgomery County’s perspective, this influx of uninsured people raised concerns of communicable disease as well as of financial strain on healthcare facilities.

Robert McKnight of UK’s College of Public Health has been working to address these issues since 2001. The Mt. Sterling Health Initiative builds upon earlier USDA funding to document numbers and demographics of patients seen, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews. Through his consultation with the Montgomery County Health Department, the Health Department has received a primary care access grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration.

Based on these efforts, Hispanic access to the Montgomery County Health Department will increase in primary care and community prevention activities; the Mt. Sterling Latino Health Access Coalition will continue and grow; and the financial burden of uncompensated healthcare will be reduced among health providers in the Mt. Sterling/Montgomery County region.

The Montgomery County Health Department will implement the established plan of action and will collect evaluation data relating to Hispanic access to healthcare, provision of the healthcare resource guide, the percentage of non-emergency services provided by the local EMS, and other areas.

To date, several articles have appeared in the Mt. Sterling newspaper on the health initiative, a member of the team was named “Distinguished Citizen of the Year” for Montgomery County in 2005, and joined then-Governor Ernie Fletcher at the signing ceremony designating Hispanic Heritage Month in Kentucky.