Good Samaritan and the United Way of Knox County have partnered together to bring a resource to the local community.

Wabash Valley Connect is a referral platform for social services that exists to connect all people in need and the programs that serve them (with dignity and ease). Wabash Valley Connect makes it easy for people facing social needs, and those who help others, to find and make referrals to appropriate programs and services for food, shelter, health care, transportation, work, financial assistance and more.

“One of the problems primary care providers are facing all over the country is providing patients services that insurance does not cover. Examples can include missing appointments because of no transportation or not having adequate nutrition because the patient does not have the money to buy food,” said Dr. Lee McKinley, Clinical Professor of Medicine at Good Samaritan’s Internal Medicine Residency Clinic. “These social determinants of health will be addressed through Wabash Valley Connect. We are striving to remove the barriers our patients face and sit with them during appointments and show them the resources out in the community that they may not have known were available.”

Wabash Valley Connect is part of a social network called findhelp.org. This service connects people and programs, making is easy for residents to find social services in their community, for nonprofits to coordinate their efforts, and for customers to integrate social care into the work they already do.

“Good Samaritan Foundation’s mission is to raise private, philanthropic support for Good Samaritan, its programs and services, and to assure the continuation of the delivery of the highest quality medical and health care services that our community deserves and has come to expect,” said Nicole Coomer, Foundation Development Specialist. “When Dr. Lee McKinley approached Foundation to share about findhelp.org’s technology and its potentially transformative effects for our health care workers and in the lives of our patients, we knew that this project was in perfect alignment with this mission.”

Coomer also stated that Wabash Valley Connect will not only serve as a tool that can assist in the improvement of critical needs that have been compounded by Covid-19, but will also allow our local social service network to better assess existing resource gaps in order to more effectively develop and distribute assistance. “We are thrilled that United Way of Knox County, who graciously provided grant funding for this project, and a network of community organizations share in this vision. We look forward to witnessing the positive outcomes Wabash Valley Connect will generate.”

The site can be found by visiting wabashvalleyconnect.org. Users will need to create an account and then can have access to free tools and features within their own community.

The Knox County Public Library will be hosting a Facebook Live on Wednesday, January 27 at 6 p.m. (EST) providing information and answering questions about Wabash Valley Connect and its benefits to the community.