President and CEO of Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas Krista Postai gave an update on some recent collaborations.
Food Storage With New Ft. Scott Grocery Store
One collaboration is with the Star Emporium Downtown General Store, owned by Bill Michaud of BAJA Investments.
Michaud reached an agreement with the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas to provide food storage space to expand the food distribution and delivery programs CHC/SEK is currently offering in Crawford County into Fort Scott, with services beginning in January, he said. The store will provide the food storage piece.
To learn more about this new downtown venture:
Star Emporium Downtown General Store To Open Early Next Year
“With the pandemic, we’re finding more and more people are struggling and challenged to find food, so we’re going to be adding food distribution to our list of services,” Postai said. “The folks in Ft. Scott are providing our freezer and refrigerator space within the basement of the grocery store for any donated food or purchased food from Kansas Food Bank or other local partners.”
“This will not be used as a distribution point for community members, just a place for us to store it,” she said. “Our long-term plan is to create a Food Rx program for chronically ill and food-insecure patients and to offer grocery delivery to homebound patients throughout our region. It’s always great to find partners willing to help and this is a great example.”
Part of Kansas Distribution Plan For COVID-19 Vaccine
“We are part of the state’s overall plan for (COVID-19 vaccine) distribution and are anxiously awaiting its arrival,” Postai said. “We just learned that we may be receiving one of the ‘super’ freezers from the state which would make the vaccine more accessible. Once available, we will be following state guidelines on priority immunizations which I believe will be front-line medical personnel first. For the latest information on the state’s plan, go to https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/284/COVID-19-Vaccine.”