Kathy Haas (center) and Barb Ostrum (right) accept a $2,500 grant from McCook Community Foundation Fund Advisory Committee member Dennis Berry toward the new Patient Assistance Program. The funds will be used alleviate the financial burden as patients address medical issues through the new program.

The staff at Community Hospital has long recognized that people experiencing a major medical crisis should just be able to focus on their health. But the outside world can get in the way in the form of bills and financial needs. 

That is where the Patient Assistance Program, created by the staff at Community Hospital and located within the Family Resource Center, stepped into help, The program provides additional support for patients and families going through a catastrophic health issue.

McCook Community Foundation Fund recently showed its support for the program with a $2,500 grant to help with funding. 

Last year, hospital staff approached Kathy Haas at the Family Resource Center to start the program, knowing that a local response was a necessity for patients with serious medical issues along with day-to-day stresses.

 To establish the program, funds were granted by Community Hospital to create the Patient Assistance Program earlier this year with the program located at the Family Resource Center. 

Funds are paid directly to a provider such as gas money for medical trips, utility or rent assistance if other mainstream resources are not available. An additional benefit to the program is that families are referred to other services in the community which may be available to them if needed. 

As assessment is done by the project coordinator, Barb Ostrum, a well-recognized face in the community. Ostrum has years of experience connecting people in need to resources and came out of retirement to help with the program. 

The Patient Assistance Program officially launched in February 2020 and has since served 18 different households. Through the program, needs of the patient and the family are assessed to determine what program best fits the situation.

Ostrum said the program’s ultimate goal is to help connect people dealing with health issues to the resources and services they need to help ease other burdens so they can focus on treatments and their healing process.

“These funds from the donations and grants will be used to to assist with financial issues when mainstream services are not available,” Ostrum said.

For more information on the Patient Assistance Program or to make an appointment with Barb, call the Family Resource Center at (308) 345-2609, Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. and Friday, from 9 a.m. until noon.

McCook Community Foundation Fund is an affiliated fund of the Nebraska Community Foundation. A complete list of grants from MCFF can be found at mccookfoundation.org