2024 Year in Review: Building Healthier Tomorrow
All Care Health Center is celebrating significant strides accomplished in 2024 toward our goals of expanding access to care, improving quality measures, and fostering a supportive workplace. These efforts reflect our strong commitment to the community and our role as a leader in the delivery of accessible, high-quality healthcare to Council Bluffs and the surrounding Southwest Iowa communities.
Increased Access
Unduplicated patient numbers have grown in 2024, surpassing those of 2023. With a few days remaining in the year, we expect to end the year serving close to 6,000 patients. The initiatives launched this year have created continued expectations for growth in unduplicated patients and patient visits.
School-based mobile healthcare services played a central role in increasing healthcare accessibility, with expanded school site locations each semester. During the summer, we added new elementary locations within our partnership with the Council Bluffs Community School District. We launched partnerships with the Council Bluffs Public Library and Broadway United Methodist Church to improve healthcare access to the community at large. Altogether, ten unique sites served as mobile hubs for community healthcare this year.
School-based behavioral health services were also launched inside Thomas Jefferson High School, a Council Bluffs Community School District site, starting the fall semester of 2024. Provider schedules quickly filled, reflecting a clear community need. Next year, school-based behavioral healthcare access is projected to grow by 400%.
This fall, a grant award assisted with expanding integrated care on Saturday mornings, adding behavioral health services alongside primary care. This funding will also support the addition of Saturday dental services in early 2025.
Behavioral Health Expansion funding from the Health Resources Services Administration was awarded, which has positioned All Care to expand behavioral health services substantially. This funding will allow us to add two therapists, a registered nurse, two medical assistants, a licensed clinical social worker, and a licensed alcohol and drug counselor in 2025. All Care has recently welcomed a Community Health Worker as part of this expansion.
All Care welcomed an impressive team of ten new providers in 2024, strengthening access to medical, dental, and behavioral health services. This team includes family practice physicians, physician assistants, dentists, nurse practitioners, and licensed therapists, ensuring expanded care options for our patients. With the addition of a new dentist, All Care reintroduced dental services to the Florence M. Lakin Health Center. This location not only provides on-site access to guests of MICAH House and is a hub for dental care for New Visions Homeless Services guests, it also provides much-needed access to dental care for residents of the surrounding neighborhood.
All Care replaced our patient transportation van, improving the reliability of service for vulnerable individuals. This service completed nearly 800 rides in 2024, removing transportation as a barrier for these patients. In addition to this van, All Care added a designated pharmacy delivery vehicle, this spring. Nearly 5,000 prescriptions have been delivered to patients in Council Bluffs, this year.
The cumulative result of each of these efforts shows a 54% increase in available patient access to healthcare services from January 2024 to January 2025. At All Care, we are very proud of the results of these efforts and look forward to continuing this strategic work in 2025.
Improved Quality
At the heart of All Care’s mission is a commitment to delivering exceptional care. This year, we welcomed Gretchen Bayer to lead our quality improvement efforts, which have already yielded consistent gains in UDS (Uniform Data System) measures. To enhance access for patients, digitally, we launched MyChart, offering streamlined digital access to health information. Streamlined updates to online forms have also improved patient accessibility.
New SHIIP Certification in All Care’s Access Services department enhances services for seniors throughout the community seeking free enrollment assistance. SHIIP (Senior Health Insurance Information Program) offers one-on-one assistance, counseling, and education to Medicare beneficiaries, their families, and caregivers to help them make informed decisions about their care and benefits.
Through a partnership with Main Street Health, a Healthcare Navigator was placed to address patient care gaps. This individual listens to a broad array of patient concerns that may affect their receipt of healthcare, and works tirelessly to break each unique barrier. Care Coordinators are also reaching out to attributed patients to ensure patients have no barriers to establishing care.
Recognizing the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in patient care, All Care’s staff completed DEI training in 2024. Additionally, mental health providers at All Care received Behavioral Health LGBTQ+ Best Practices education from One Iowa focusing on LGBTQ cultural competency. The Medical team received LGBTQ+ 101 as well as Trans and Nonbinary 101. This training involved offering our team the opportunity to learn the best practices for creating a welcoming environment for all of our patients.
Patient feedback has been central to our improvement efforts. During National Health Center Week, All Care hosted Patient Advisory Focus Group lunches to gather valuable insights on our services. This feedback continues to guide our efforts to deliver exceptional, patient-centered care.
Workforce Achievements
In 2024, All Care continued prioritizing our team, recognizing that our workforce is our most valuable asset. For the third consecutive year, All Care was recognized as an “Unbelievable Workplace” by the Council Bluffs Chamber of Commerce.
Staff feedback collected during this process steered leadership’s efforts to improve training resources, enhance promotion policies, and expand educational reimbursement opportunities. Additional improvements to employee health benefits have also been implemented for 2025.
This year, we took proactive steps to ensure all staff are prepared to respond to mental health crises. Mental Health Therapist Stacie Acox completed Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training and will begin training all staff to recognize signs of a mental health crisis, listen effectively, and respond with appropriate first aid support.
Fostering Community
Community engagement remained central to All Care’s work in 2024. Our team attended over 160 outreach events, advocating for healthcare access and strengthening partnerships across the region.
At home, All Care hosted events and initiatives to foster a sense of community. During National Health Center Week, we celebrated patients, stakeholders, and community partners with wellness-focused activities for local homeless shelters, mobile medical clinic chalk parties for families, and bilingual Facebook Live story readings. A highlight of the week was All Care’s Community Partner Tailgate, which welcomed the inaugural Health Equity Rally and Outreach (HERO) Ride, promoting health equity and the vital role of community health centers in Iowa.
All Care introduced the Ambassador Program, empowering volunteers to educate others and advocate for All Care’s mission and initiatives within the community. Ambassadors expand All Care’s reach by sharing resources through their personal networks.
All Care’s literacy initiatives continued through our partnership with Firefly’s Reach Out and Read program, allowing children to take home a book during annual well-checks. A grant from Iowa Total Care also funded 107 books for our lobby, making short waits more engaging for kids. Outside the health center, our new Little Free Library offers 24/7 access to books, encouraging families to “Take a Book. Share a Book.”
The Binational Health Fair, one of our largest on-site community events, connected participants with free health services and resources while improving healthcare access for the Spanish-speaking community. Additionally, All Care hosted the All of Us Journey, a traveling initiative to build one of the most diverse health databases in history, contributing to vital research on health and disease.
All Care continues to provide a place where food insecurity is understood and recognized as a health concern. Through our continued partnership with Story Street Pantry, All Care provided low-barrier, monthly access to nutritious food access. Distribution of Farmers Market Bucks also made fresh, local produce more accessible for residents of vulnerable neighborhoods.
All Care continues to host Bridges Out of Poverty classes to empower under-resourced families to change their lives by discovering and overcoming barriers to success
Awards, Accolade, & Achievements
All Care’s efforts were celebrated with several significant awards this year. The Iowa Primary Care Association honored All Care with its inaugural Communicators Award, recognizing our outstanding efforts in patient engagement and community outreach. This fall, All Care earned its first Advocacy Center of Excellence (ACE) Award, highlighting our organizational commitment to advocacy and equitable healthcare access.
To build trust with funders, All Care achieved the Platinum Seal of Transparency through Candid, a distinction earned by less than 1% of nonprofits registered with the IRS.
Additionally, our Chief Operating Officer was recognized as a Midlands Business Journal 40 Under 40 honoree, celebrating her impactful leadership in healthcare and the community.
Throughout the year, All Care maintained Joint Commission Accreditation and FTCA Deeming Status, underscoring our day-to-day commitment to excellence in care and operations.
Looking Ahead
As 2024 comes to a close, we reflect with pride on a year of growth, resilience, and impact. The progress we’ve made in expanding access, improving quality, strengthening our workforce, and fostering community ensures that All Care remains a pillar of health and wellness for years to come.
Thank you to our dedicated staff, valued partners, and supportive community for making this success possible. Together, we are building a healthier, brighter future for all.
