From Maternal Health Data to Tech Tutors and Street Medicine: Organizations Bridge Healthcare and Digital Access Gaps
Jan 16, 2026 – The January 2026 meeting of the Kansas City Coalition for Digital Inclusion explored the critical intersection of healthcare and digital access. Featuring presentations from KC Digital Drive, Heartland Wellness Connection, and Care Beyond the Boulevard, the session highlighted how digital navigation is being embedded into clinical and social care to address health disparities and the social drivers of health.
Featured Presentation: The Promise of Digital Life in Health
John Fitzpatrick, Community Health Strategist for KC Digital Drive, delivered an in-depth look at the “Connected Health Community” vision. He emphasized that 80% of a person’s well-being is driven by non-clinical factors—social, behavioral, and environmental—with digital literacy and access now recognized as fundamental enablers of health.
Fitzpatrick shared a foundational principle from 1994 Cerner Corporation documentation (over 30 years old): the person is the unifying principle in healthcare. Whether seeking medical or social services, people go through the same process: assess needs, determine resources, create a plan, enact it, evaluate outcomes, and refer onward.
He shared the tool called the Gravity Project which identified at least 22 social drivers of health (SDoH), including: food insecurity, transportation barriers, housing instability, intimate partner violence, and digital literacy and access.
Fitzpatrick highlighted research from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation showing dramatic health disparities within Kansas City based on your zip code. There was a stark 14-year life expectancy gap between the Blue Hills (69 years) and Armour Hills (83 years) neighborhoods—less than three miles apart—illustrating that “zip code is more important than genetic code.”
To bridge this divide, KC Digital Drive is leading several major projects:
- Patient Portal Access Training – Projects helping people understand how to connect to and use their patient portals to access their own health data
- CHW Digital Skills Training: Building digital skills training for Community Health Workers across nine counties.
- Maternal Health Data Continuum: Working to normalize maternal health data to address high mortality rates, particularly among African-American women.
- Social Care Coordination: Utilizing a local electronic referral system to connect community-based organizations and track outcomes for social needs like food and housing.
Member Spotlight: Heartland Wellness Connection
Raquel Garcia and Emily Ing introduced Heartland Wellness Connection, a brand-new organization formed to serve Cass County with a digital-first approach to health. Shifting from the model of their predecessor, Welcome Wellness, the organization focuses on digital navigation to serve a county with significant healthcare gaps.
A key highlight of their work is the Tech Tutors program, which partners with Belton High School to train students as digital health navigators. These students receive HIPAA compliance training and teach computer skills to community members of all ages. Heartland is expanding this model by adding community health workers to provide health-specific navigation, such as telehealth visits and patient portal access, in locations ranging from homes to farms.
Raquel also underscored an urgent maternal health crisis in Cass County, which currently has no women’s care facilities for pregnancy, necessitating hour-long drives for appointments that could potentially be addressed through telehealth solutions.
Heartland Wellness Connection seeks collaboration with:
- Organizations already working with community health workers
- Groups serving older adults who could benefit from tech tutors
- Partners addressing the maternal health crisis in Cass County
- Anyone interested in replicating the tech tutors model in other counties/schools
- Funders and partners looking to expand digital access to rural areas in Cass and Jackson counties
Member Spotlight: Care Beyond the Boulevard
Website: https://www.carebeyondtheboulevard.org/
Gustavo and Kevin presented on the expansion of Care Beyond the Boulevard (CBB), which provides street medicine to Kansas City’s homeless and uninsured populations. Thanks to Google Fiber funding, CBB has launched a new computer lab and digital navigation program at their stationary clinic, The Beehive.
The lab features six workstations where a dedicated Digital Navigator leads 30-minute seminars on essential skills like setting up secure email accounts and navigating medical records. The goal is to provide a “fixed digital home base” where patients can safely store digital copies of birth certificates and IDs.
This initiative complements CBB’s other core programs, including:
- The Big Green Bus – a mobile medical unit traveling throughout the week to cold weather shelters and encampments to provide medical care
- Street Outreach Clinics – case managers visit encampments Tuesday and Thursday mornings to provide targeted medical care
- The Care House – medical respite facility (former motel) serving unhoused individuals who need somewhere to stay directly after being discharged from the hospital, which has a 50% success rate in preventing a return to homelessness (through housing, family reconnection, transitional programs)
- The Beehive – main stationery clinic (7th & Paseo) open daily to provide medical and social services, where the new computer lab is housed
Care Beyond the Boulevard welcomes partnerships with:
- Organizations doing similar digital navigation work (to avoid duplicating efforts, share curriculum, and potentially refer patients)
- Partnerships with groups whose clients could benefit from the computer lab
- Opportunities to tour the Beehive and explore collaboration
Announcements
The meeting concluded with updates regarding regional digital inclusion efforts:
- KOBD Update: The Kansas Office of Broadband Development received approval for its $166.6 million BEAD Final Proposal, which will connect over 26,000 households and businesses.
- Net Inclusion Conference: Leslie Scott has 50% discount codes available for the NDIA’s annual conference in Chicago this February. Details here.
- Re.Use.Full: This platform is available for organizations to post items for donation or find needed resources.
- Upcoming Events:
- Health Innovation Team Meeting – RSVP here
- Computer Repair Event – Details here
Want to get involved? Visit digitalinclusionkc.org to learn more, sign up for updates, or watch past meetings. Membership is free—just complete the short form at digitalinclusionkc.org/join .
Next Coalition Meetings:
- February 6, 2026 (10:30 AM – 12:00 PM) on Teams – Details here
- February 20, 2026 (10:30 AM – 12:00 PM) on Zoom – Details here