Serving York County

December 2013

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Impact of the month

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A young man called the center for an appointment but one was not available for nearly four weeks. By God's grace he called back 10 minutes later after the last appt. of the day called and cancelled. He was able to come in. During the evaluation it was obvious early that he was struggling with just functioning in his life. He was a former drug abuser that had gone to rehab and been clean for 8 years. That changed about 4 months ago when he lost his job. He felt useless as a man unable to provide for his family, was being challenged in his faith and began using heroin to ease the pain. As he spoke through his tears, broken, struggling to speak from his heart about his pain, he shared how he was sick and tired of being sick and tired. As he prayed he asked God to break the hold the heroin had on him and replace it with a passion for Him again. With those words we talked about his desire to commit to rehab. After a few phone calls and his return the next day, he was approved to enter into a rehab program. By God's grace, he attended and returned home with a new hope, a renewed outlook and commitment to pursue Christ as he had not done before.

One phone call, God's timing, a life being changed for eternity!

That's Kat impact!

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Katallasso Provider Spotlight

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Dr. Ed Foster

is a graduate of Wheaton College and the University of Maryland School of Medicine and then gained his certification in internal medicine through a residency at York Hospital. He then served as a medical officer in the Navy for several years before returning to York in 1992 to enter private practice. "Katallasso gives physicians the opportunity to live out Jesus' instruction to love our neighbors, to meet them in their own neighborhood, to give with no expectation of gain" Ed says. Thank you so much Ed for walking the talk!

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Volunteer of the Month
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Lisa Brightbill

brings a great heart and a passion to walk the talk through volunteerism to Katallasso. She has been a solid volunteer right from the beginning and her commitment to the center has led to a leadership position as one of our two office managers. Most of her past experiences are in volunteer organizational capacities as she worked to bring together many events and seminars. She worked in a Human Resources leadership capacity in a large local specialist practice and has thankfully brought that experience to Katallasso. She is married to her husband Jerry and they have 3 children and 1 grandchild. Thank you so much Lisa for impacting lives by serving here at Katallasso!

State Representative Stops In

In November State representative Kevin Schreiber stopped in to visit Katallasso with his assistant Sully for a tour and talk. Rep. Schreiber and Executive Director Brian Kreeger discussed issues of state concerning free and charitable clinics. It was a great visit.

Quick Links

Our Website

Scope of care

SOOOO much has been happening at Katallasso since the last newsletter! Read on to see just a few of the things going on at the center.....

275 and Counting....

At the writing of this newsletter we have served

275 individual patients through over 630 visits. WOW! The need is even greater than we thought. Thank goodness for our new electronic medical records system. We haven't advertised one bit and have been booked solid 5 weeks in advance for several months. We currently have 8 providers and clearly need more. The specialties we currently have serving here at Katallasso are: family practice, infectious disease, orthopedics, endocrinology and women's health. Be sure to check out the Impact of the month to the left.

First Annual Breakfast

In October we held our first annual breakfast. We had excellent attendance for our first big event and it went off without a hitch. Eve Gardner, Executive Director of the Healthy York Network, spoke on the state of healthcare in York County. Brian Kreeger, Executive Director of Katallasso gave an update on the progress made at the health center. We also had 3 video testimonials from those served at Katallasso. It was a terrific program and a great breakfast prepared by fantastic volunteers! If you weren't in attendance you really missed out!

Katallasso Renovation Final
Payment

Through good stewardship practices and excellent donor support Katallasso was able to make the final payment in early November to retire the renovation debt in less than one year. The bill started around $200K but came down to about $145K through donations of time, talents and gifts in kind. Praise God!!

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As a side note...check out the awards Katallasso and Stewart

and Tate received for the renovation from the National Association of Church Design Builders. We were featured in the Central Pennsylvania Business Journal among other publications for the awards.

Flu Shots at Katallasso

In October Katallasso teamed up with the York College School of Nursing and the York/Adams Immunization Coalition to provide free flu shots to folks without insurance. WGAL Channel 8 covered the event on the morning news. Thank you so much to both collaborators in helping to make a great Kat Impact!

2013 Health Festival

Katallasso also had a GREAT health Festival in October. Over 125 people participated and there were over 16 different stations where people could have various health screenings done. We had a DJ, food, drawings and tours of the
center. Above all, the neighborhood had a great community day where they could learn about many health issues and have their eyes opened to their own personal health needs. Each participant was required to stop at at least 9 stations and many visited more. It was a wonderful day had by all!! This could not have been done without the collaboration of many organizations. The organizational committee was made up of representatives from the York College School of Nursing, Wellspan, the York City Bureau of Health and the Salem Square Community Association along with Katallasso.

Time for some learning...

Katallasso is currently putting together a bank of health related wellness classes and programs for mid to late January. In collaboration with Penn State Extension we will host a cooking/nutrition class beginning mid January. We are planning to have diabetes management classes as well as a smoking cessation class and "A Healthier You" class in collaboration with Wellspan Community Health. We also received a grant to conduct a children's fitness program during the winter months to combat childhood obesity. So much going on!!

How can you be part of Katallasso?

1. PRAYER! PRAYER!PRAYER!

2.We still have needs for volunteers. As we increase the patient hours our needs grow. What is your talent or expertise that Katallasso can use to impact the community?

3. Financial support. We cannot stop now. Please consider partnering with Katallasso.

4. Medical providers- Are you one or might you approach someone you know?

5. PRAYER! PRAYER! PRAYER!
(It's that important!)

***All of God's people must come together in order for this to be successful. WILL YOU ANSWER THE CALL?

Brian's Bits

(this section has been created to give you a picture of where this vision came from and will be a recurring section until the story is told)

In our last newsletter I described how we found our current location in the Lifecenter. Now the renovation. I first sought the counsel of a solid brother in Jeff Packard who is V.P. of Pre-construction Services for, at the time, Poole Construction (mid-point changed their name to Stewart and Tate) . I had no clue where to start and knew that Jeff could be objective enough to lead us in the right direction. We ended up using Poole Construction for all of the pre-construction, sight design and eventually the general construction for two reason: I knew Jeff to have a high level of integrity and he passionately bought in on the proposed mission of Katallasso. Also, Poole would allow us to pull anything out of the contracts that we thought we could do through gifts in kind and volunteer labor. The fact that they were willing to work with our volunteer craftsmen saved us over $50K.

The next newsletter will detail some of the most important aspects of the whole project that I don't have room to develop in this one...the pulling together of several congregations of volunteers to do Kingdom building through Katallasso. Stay tuned.

Katallasso, Inc. 990 available

The Katallasso, Inc. 990 is available now upon request. Please just call the center at (717)885-5637 to request a copy from the Executive Director.

Our mission is to emulate the love Jesus Christ by promoting wellness and providing quality healthcare for both the body and soul. In cooperation with the Church and others, Katallasso FHC will strive to reach beyond the health of the body for York City and surrounding communities.

Katallasso FHC: Reaching Beyond Healthcare

Click here to check out a detailed description of our mission.

Katallasso, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non profit corporation