San Antonio (December 14, 2020) – Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. is pleased to announce Oanh Maroney-Omitade has been selected to serve as the organization’s new vice president of organizational excellence. Maroney-Omitade has been with the organization since 2000, most recently serving as the vice president of clinical operations.

As the vice president of organizational excellence, Maroney-Omitade will report to the President & CEO and will support the development and deployment of an overall strategic roadmap for the organization. She will collaborate with leaders across the organization to prioritize and implement opportunities to improve, enhance and integrate organizational systems and also help to develop and implement its strategy for equity, diversity and inclusion work as a foundational element for organizational transformation.

“Oanh is a leader with a proven track record of excellence and profound institutional knowledge, which is critically needed to drive the type of changes that are necessary for reimagining how we operate within and across functions, to support the effective implementation of Methodist Healthcare Ministries’ strategic work,” said Jaime Wesolowski, president and CEO of Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. “Her stellar leadership style and tireless efforts in furthering our mission are greatly appreciated and I have every confidence she will pursue her new role with the same passion, dedication and drive that she’s contributed to our organization over the last 20 years.”

Maroney-Omitade first joined Methodist Healthcare Ministries in 2000 as the Parenting Programs Manager before becoming Director of Community Programs in 2006. In 2013, she was elevated to serving as the Vice President for Community Health Programs & Organizational Learning before her most recent role as Vice President of Clinical Operations, which she has held since 2015. Her mission-driving leadership is evidenced through her guidance of several critical organizational changes throughout her tenure. Initiatives such as acquiring and implementing the organization’s first electronic health record program, drafting HIPAA policies and developing the internal trainings needed to ensure compliance, as well as spearheading changes to new hire orientation processes that continue to support and improve the organization today.

Oanh earned a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and a master’s degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Oanh was named “One of San Antonio’s Rising Stars” by the San Antonio Business Journal as part of their 40 Under 40 honorees in 2003 and has also appeared in the 2014 inaugural edition of "Who’s Who San Antonio Women." This summer, she was recognized as a 2020 “Health Care Hero” by the San Antonio Business Journal. She is an alumnae of Leadership Women Texas and a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.

As Maroney-Omitade transitions into this new role, Leticia Ortiz-Johnson, who currently serves as Director of Medical Operations & Clinical Services, will serve as Interim Vice President of Clinical Operations.

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About Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. is a private, faith-based not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating access to health care for the uninsured through direct services, community partnerships and strategic grant-making in 74 counties across South Texas. Guided by its mission of "Serving Humanity to Honor God," Methodist Healthcare Ministries’ vision is to be the leader for improving wellness of the least served. The mission also includes Methodist Healthcare Ministries' one-half ownership of the Methodist Healthcare System, the largest healthcare system in South Texas, which creates a unique avenue to ensure that it continues to be a benefit to the community by providing quality care to all and charitable care when needed. For more information, visit mhmbridgeofblessings.org.

Poteet, TX (October 30, 2020) – A drive-thru food distribution for Atascosa County residents was held at Hosanna Baptist Church in Poteet providing 1,248 pre-packaged boxes of food for families in need in Atascosa County and the surrounding communities. Each box contained 30 pounds of fresh produce, dried beans, meat and dairy.

The event was organized by Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc., Methodist Hospital South, the Health Collaborative, Segovia Food Distributors, HCA HealthTrust and Hosanna Baptist Church, which came together to provide neighbors in need with a little extra support during these challenging times.

This food distribution event, and the one organized and led by the same group a week prior, was particularly impactful as COVID-19 has severely limited regular community food distributions since March. When the possibility of cancellation appeared due to food delivery challenges caused by inclement weather, each organization responded quickly to reorganize volunteers and advertising from the original date of Oct. 28 so that hungry families didn’t go without.

In 2019, the Health Collaborative released the Bexar County and Atascosa County Community Health Needs Assessment Report. The report stated an estimated 9 percent of the total Atascosa County population and 21% of children are food insecure.

• The Atascosa County areas with the highest food security are in the Poteet area and in the Southwest area of the County.
• http://healthcollaborative.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Community2019_CHNAReport_compressed.pdf

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Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. is a private, faith-based not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating access to health care for the uninsured through direct services, community partnerships and strategic grant-making in 74 counties across South Texas. Guided by its mission of "Serving Humanity to Honor God," Methodist Healthcare Ministries’ vision is to be the leader for improving wellness of the least served. The mission also includes Methodist Healthcare Ministries' one-half ownership of the Methodist Healthcare System, the largest healthcare system in South Texas, which creates a unique avenue to ensure that it continues to be a benefit to the community by providing quality care to all and charitable care when needed. For more information, visit mhmbridgeofblessings.org. 

The health of a person or a community is determined by a whole lot more than you might think. It’s more than diet and exercise and checking in with your doctor once a year. A person's health is determined, in part, by a whole number of factors such as the type of housing you live in to the number of grocery stores near you, to the number of parks in your neighborhood or the condition of the roads and sidewalks where you live. One factor that plays an outsized role in helping determine your health is the educational opportunities available to you. 

Education can be the silver bullet to helping improve the health of a community. That is why it is critically important for our community to continue investing and expanding the Pre-K 4 SA program our community voted on and initiated eight years ago.

By most measures, Pre-K 4 SA has been a tremendous success and it has become a national model for other communities to follow. Since the program began, Pre-K 4 SA has directly served 25,000 students, and will have collectively impacted 452,161 four-year-olds within the San Antonio community through all of the programming, grants and centers it supports. 

Pre-K 4 SA has been proven to increase kindergarten readiness, increase third grade test scores, decrease the need for special education placement and additional readiness support. This readiness is a vitally important factor in whether someone graduates from high school. In fact, a 2012 study shows that about 16 percent of children who are not reading proficiently by the end of third grade do not graduate from high school on time. For children who were poor, lived in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty and not reading proficiently, the proportion jumped to 35 percent.

We know that high school graduation is the most important long-term, modifiable predictor of health outcomes and it determines one's likelihood of getting a job—one that is likely to offer health insurance, improving their access to care—having financial security, and improving their access to healthy food. 

Pre-K for SA also increased employment and wage earnings for the 21,000 teachers who have been trained throughout San Antonio and received 218,000 hours of professional development and training. 

A vote for Pre-K 4 SA is a vote for health equity, which we believe is both the process and the goal by which we can recognize and address the inequities inherent in our communities that contribute to poor health outcomes. Health Equity is a framework of thought and action that strives to reduce racial and socio-economic disparities and creates fair and just opportunities for people to reach their full potential for health and life and contribute to that of others.

This program has been proven to be successful at helping improve educational outcomes in its first eight years—imagine what the next eight will bring as the four-year olds that first started in the program advance through elementary, middile school and into high school. Imagine the boost, financial and emotional, that parents receive by knowing their kids are getting a shot to succeed and do better than they might have. That's the American dream, isn't it?

As you go to the polls in San Antonio during this important election, I urge you to cast your ballot in favor of Proposition A. We have more work to do for our children and Pre-K 4 SA is part of the key to a brighter future, full of opportunity and success for our community.

Jaime Wesolowski is the President & CEO of Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc., a faith-based, not-for-profit organization working to create access to care for low-income, uninsured families through services, strategic grant-making and community partnerships in 74 counties across South Texas.

A version of this OpEd ran in the San Antonio Express-News.

San Antonio, TX (October 20, 2020) – A majority of people who live in Bexar, Guadalupe, and Medina counties say they are “very concerned” about another wave of COVID-19 hitting the state and have skipped or postponed medical care since the pandemic began. That’s according to a new Episcopal Health Foundation survey focused on the pandemic’s impact in the Bexar County area sponsored by Methodist Healthcare Ministries.

The comprehensive survey asked residents about many different issues related to the pandemic including their mental health, access to telemedicine, health insurance and employment concerns, the importance of non-profit and government support, and more.  

 The survey finds that almost 4 in 10 people living in the Bexar County area (39 percent) say they or someone in their household skipped or postponed some type of medical care due to COVID-19. Of those who went without care, researchers found that 88 percent said they skipped preventive care like checkups, mammograms, colonoscopies, and child immunizations. 

“The data in this report clarifies the breadth and depth of the impact COVID-19 has had on people in and around Bexar County,” said Jaime Wesolowski, President & CEO of Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. “This study helps us better understand the different ways people’s well-being has been affected by the pandemic and shines a light on the health inequities that exist in the communities we serve. There is still much work to be done to address the needs of resilient families across South Texas so that their communities can thrive.”

The survey finds that most area residents say their mental health is good, but nearly half (45 percent) say that worry or stress related to COVID-19 had a negative impact on their mental health. 

When it comes to receiving health treatment using telemedicine or virtual visits during COVID-19, the survey finds that 27 percent of Bexar County area residents say they either don’t have a device with internet access or don’t know how to talk with a doctor online.  

The survey also confirmed that Bexar, Guadalupe and Medina counties continue to have a high rate of people without health insurance, and that the pandemic has made the situation worse. Researchers found that more than one quarter (26 percent) of area residents age 18-64 are uninsured and 5 percent said they lost their health insurance at some point during the pandemic.  

Researchers found that people in the Bexar County area are more likely to be worried about another outbreak of COVID-19 than those living in other areas of Texas. The survey finds that 58 percent of area residents say they’re “very concerned” about another wave of the virus in Texas, compared to statewide survey results that show less than half (45 percent) of all Texans had the same worry.  

In the Bexar County area, the survey also finds that more than half of residents (52 percent) say they feel the worst is yet to come in terms of the pandemic. Again, researchers found people in Bexar, Guadalupe and Medina counties are more likely to feel this way than those in the rest of Texas (43 percent).  

• See the complete “COVID-19 in Bexar County Area Survey Report” 

COVID-19 hits Bexar County area financially  Compounding these health care issues, the survey finds that a majority of those living in the Bexar County area (57 percent) say the pandemic has caused financial hardship for them and their household, including 22 percent who say it’s caused severe financial suffering. In addition, researchers found more than one-third (37 percent) of area residents say someone in their household has lost their job, their business, or had work hours reduced. 

Reported likelihood of getting a COVID-19 vaccine in Bexar County area  In looking to the future, researchers found that more Bexar County area residents say they’re “very likely” to get a COVID-19 vaccine than those in the rest of the state. Almost half (46 percent) of those living in Bexar, Guadalupe and Medina counties say they are “very likely” to get a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available, compared to statewide results showing that 36 percent of Texans overall say the same thing. The survey finds that another 17 percent of area residents say they are “somewhat likely” to get a COVID-19 vaccine.   

10 additional highlights from the COVID-19 in Bexar County area survey report: 

• 36 percent of respondents wereessential workers—of which 70 percent identified themselves as Black, Hispanic, or other racial and ethnic minorities and only 30 percent identified as White.
• 21 percent of parents say their child would not have the support or supervision needed to successfully participate in online virtual classes for school. 
• 64 percent say they’re very worried that local businesses will close permanently during the outbreak. 
• 51 percent say they’re very worried that Texas’ local economy will suffer even more because of the pandemic. 
• 43 percent say they think it will be 6 months to a year before life returns to normal.  
• 32 percent say they’ve received any form of government assistance during the pandemic. 
• 76 percent say they or someone in their household received financial assistance from the federal government. 
• 49 percent say it’s very important for federal or state government to provide assistance with health care costs in response to COVID-19. 
• 20 percent say they received food from a nonprofit organization or food bank. 
• 8 say they’ve received help with rent payments. 

 METHODOLOGY The Episcopal Health Foundation (EHF) Texas COVID-19 Survey was conducted by telephone August 5 – September 18, 2020 among a random representative sample of 1,889 adults age 18 and older living in the state of Texas including 265 residents in Bexar, Guadalupe, and Medina counties (note: persons without a telephone could not be included in the random selection process). Interviews in the Bexar County area were administered in English and Spanish, combining random samples of both landline (30) and cellular telephones (236, including 184 who had no landline telephone). Sampling, data collection, weighting and tabulation were managed by SSRS in close collaboration with Episcopal Health Foundation researchers. 

 Weighting is generally used in survey analysis to compensate for sample designs and patterns of non-response that might bias results. The survey data are weighted to balance the sample demographics to match estimates for the Bexar County area adult population. A multi-stage weighting design was applied to ensure an accurate representation of the Bexar County area adult population. The margin of sampling error for this study is plus or minus 7 percentage points for results based on the total sample. For results based on subgroups, the margin of sampling error may be higher. 

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To schedule an interview, contact Teno Villarreal, Communications Specialist, Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. 

Related materials:  

Click to view the complete COVID-19 in Bexar County Area research report.

Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. is a private, faith-based not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating access to health care for the uninsured through direct services, community partnerships and strategic grant-making in 74 counties across South Texas. Guided by its mission of "Serving Humanity to Honor God," Methodist Healthcare Ministries’ vision is to be the leader for improving wellness of the least served. The mission also includes Methodist Healthcare Ministries' one-half ownership of the Methodist Healthcare System, the largest healthcare system in South Texas, which creates a unique avenue to ensure that it continues to be a benefit to the community by providing quality care to all and charitable care when needed. For more information, visit mhmbridgeofblessings.org. 

Episcopal Health Foundation: www.episcopalhealth.org By providing millions of dollars in grants, working with congregations and community partners, and providing important research, the Episcopal Health Foundation supports solutions that address the underlying causes of poor health in Texas. EHF was established in 2013, is based in Houston, and has more than $1.2 billion in estimated assets. #HealthNotJustHealthcare 

SSRS is a full-service market and survey research firm managed by a core of dedicated professionals with advanced degrees in the social sciences. Service offerings include the Omnibus Survey, the SSRS Opinion Panel and other Online Solutions, as well as custom research programs – all driven by a central commitment to methodological rigor. The SSRS team is renowned for its multimodal approach, as well as its sophisticated and proprietary sample designs. Typical projects for the company include complex strategic, tactical and public opinion initiatives in the U.S. and in more than 40 countries worldwide. SSRS is research, refined.  

Contact: Gary Bass, (202) 328-2040, gbass@baumanfoundation.org

WASHINGTON — Around 450 philanthropic organizations, alarmed by the announcement that the U.S. Department of Commerce intends to “drastically cut short” 2020 census operations amid a surging coronavirus pandemic, urged the U.S. Census Bureau not to rush the significant enumeration and data processing that remain unfinished.

“Rushing the census…would hurt a diverse range of rural and urban communities, leaving them underrepresented locally and in Congress and cutting their fair share of federal funding for Medicaid, economic development, child care, schools, road and public transit improvements, home heating assistance for senior citizens, and many more vital services,” read a letter the philanthropies made public today.

The letter reflects an unprecedented consensus among national, state and local grantmakers and philanthropic institutions that have given a total of more than $100 million to help ensure an accurate census.

The Administration is planning to end door-to-door census enumeration and self response operations Septrmnrt 30, a full month earlier than it announced when it modified the 2020 census timeline as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in the United States. The philanthropic leaders that signed the letter share the belief that the additional month is needed to complete the count; nearly four in ten households were still yet to be counted as August began.

“The bottom line is that shortening the census in the face of national public health and economic crises will result in inaccurate data, distorting the true picture of America for the next decade,” said Gary D. Bass, executive director of the Bauman Foundation and chair of a national philanthropic collaborative to promote a fair and accurate census. “An inaccurate census is not an inevitable outcome. This letter is a nonpartisan plea to the Administration to fulfill its constitutional requirement to count every person in America.”

“State and local funders have supported the 2020 census with a focus on historically undercounted communities, including people of color, low-income and immigrant families, and young children,” said Jocelyn Bissonnette, director of the Funders Census Initiative, which supports funders in their get out the count efforts. “Philanthropy has raised its voice at this critical moment because communities deserve to be fairly and accurately counted, resourced, and represented.”

The full text of the letter and list of signatories can be found at https://funderscommittee.org/resource/letter-funder-letter-to-commerce-secretary/.

Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.’s long standing mission is “Serving Humanity to Honor God” and our vision is “To be the leader for improving wellness of the least served.” We believe that to improve the wellness of the least served and fully live out our mission we must recognize the inequities inherent in our communities that contribute to poor health outcomes. Inequities revolving around maternal and infant health, chronic stress, trauma, education, food security, safe housing and financial wealth have resulted in vast differences in life expectancy and quality of life for people living in the 74 counties we serve.

We believe that by nurturing resilient families—regardless of one’s spirituality, income, race, gender, or sexual orientation—we help communities to thrive. And, only when everyone has access to quality healthcare, a good education, meaningful job opportunities, as well as safe and just living environments, can communities truly thrive.

The disenfranchisement of people of color in our community through policies and practices contributing to systemic racial oppression, including the suppression of opportunities to reach one’s full potential for health and life, does harm to all families and prevents every community from thriving.

As an organization rooted in the traditions of the Methodist faith, we proclaim, with the 2017-2020 Social Principles of the United Methodist Church, recognition of racism as sin and affirm the ultimate and temporal worth of all persons. We rejoice in the gifts that every racial group and culture bring to our total life and stand with our partners, patients, clients, and the communities we serve in rejecting all expressions of racism and policies and practices that erode inclusion and diminish health equity for all.

San Antonio, TX (April 5, 2020) – On Saturday, April 4, 2020, leaders from Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. were informed that a team member who was working at its Wesley Health & Wellness Center during the week of March 23-27 has tested positive for community-acquired COVID-19.

Risk of patient exposure is very low as the infected individual had no patient contact, nor are they part of the facility’s medical operations. Additionally, all patient care had already been adjusted drastically to reduce direct contact in observance of social distancing guidelines. Those adjustments shifted care to virtual visits when possible, and drive-up care when necessary by medical professionals in full personal protective equipment.

The team member has not come in contact with any Methodist Healthcare Ministries team members or entered any of its facilities since experiencing symptoms. All potentially affected team members have been notified and are taking proper precautionary measures.

To mitigate any risk for further infection, the Wesley Health & Wellness Center will be closed during the week of April 5-12 for thorough disinfection cleaning. All patient care will be conducted exclusively through virtual visits until Monday, April 13. The only disruption to patient care will be the rescheduling of medical lab appointments.

Methodist Healthcare Ministries had already closed operations and instituted work-from-home measures for employees at its two School Based Health Centers, Corporate Office and Dixon Health & Wellness Center. The organization continues to provide safe, affordable health care to San Antonio’s low-income population through virtual medical and behavioral health care—including food and other emergency assistance during this pandemic.

About Methodist HealthcareMinistries of South Texas, Inc.

Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. is a private, faith-based not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating access to health care for the uninsured through direct services, community partnerships and strategic grant-making in 74 counties across South Texas. Guided by its mission of "Serving Humanity to Honor God," Methodist Healthcare Ministries’ vision is to be the leader for improving wellness of the least served. The mission also includes Methodist Healthcare Ministries' one-half ownership of the Methodist Healthcare System, the largest healthcare system in South Texas, which creates a unique avenue to ensure that it continues to be a benefit to the community by providing quality care to all and charitable care when needed. For more information, visit mhmbridgeofblessings.org.

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