photo by: YouTube screenshot

Staff from the Heartland Community Health Center meet with Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026.

Demand for psychiatric care at Heartland Community Health Center is growing – especially among children – as the clinic works to address gaps in staffing while keeping the people it already has.

Since 2022, Heartland’s staff has fluctuated with hiring additional staff and losing other providers, according to a presentation shared with Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday. In 2025 and 2026, the organization has been focusing on stabilizing its workforce and hiring staff for adults and patients receiving medication-assisted treatment and substance use disorder services.

“We want to increase meaningful access to care for the community while ensuring patients can receive the appropriate level and frequency of services they need to meet their goals, improve their health outcomes, and prevent acute and crisis events,” Rachel Hartford, chief operating officer at Heartland, said.

To provide adequate access, the organization dedicates approximately six full-time equivalent staff. According to a memo to commissioners, while it is enough to address existing demand, additional staffing would be necessary to meaningfully expand access.

But right now, that’s not the goal, Hartford said.

“The goal here is to be able to retain providers and not have that turnover because it’s not enough to just increase the headcount,” Hartford said. “We don’t want to see providers move if they don’t have to.”

Some of the providers who have recently departed Heartland have changed their entire field of practice, Hartford said, and clinical burn out has become a growing problem.

Heartland has since hired two providers to fill those positions, and they will start in the next few months.

Heartland’s psychiatric services have evolved since it started in 2018, when Douglas County voters approved a 0.25% countywide sales tax for mental health services and facilities. And according to data shared, there has been an increase in the demand for psychiatric services.

Heartland’s quarterly psychiatric volume has grown from about 230 unique patients and fewer than 500 encounters in 2018, to now more than 1,400 unique patients and 2,000 encounters per quarter. Heartland estimates it will have about 9,800 patient visits in 2026.

That shift toward pediatric care has also been one of the most significant changes in the psychiatric program at Heartland. After Dr. Nick Evangelidis came to Heartland, children and adolescents who previously would have needed to be referred outside Heartland increasingly could receive care internally. For the last three years, nearly two out of every five psychiatry patients have been under 18.

“The number of urgent referrals, especially for the under 18 population, is tremendous,” Evangelidis said, adding that the two providers starting soon will help reduce wait times for less-urgent pediatric patients that have accumulated with the reduction in staff.

Once the current staffing is shored up, Heartland wants to explore expanding access to psychiatric care while keeping patients connected to services before their needs become more acute.

IN OTHER BUSINESS, COMMISSIONERS:

• Approved the new Solid Waste Management Plan – a joint plan between Douglas and Jefferson counties meant to guide the management of solid waste generated within the region as population trends, service expectations and market conditions continue to change. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment requires the plan to be updated every five years.

• Approved a temporary business use permit request from Bell’s Turf to allow a landscaping business and related activity to continue operating at 1307 East 1200 Road through Dec. 31, 2027. The property was acquired by nonprofit Tenants to Homeowners in 2022, and it is slated for future annexation into the City of Lawrence and development as affordable housing, according to a memo in the agenda. The landscaping business provides services for THH properties.

• Authorized the purchase of a precast concrete culvert in the amount of $128,424 for a culvert replacement project on North 1190 Road, west of the town of Clinton. This work is scheduled for spring 2027.