Eleven new digital kiosks with information on housing assistance, crisis lines, medical services and other resources were installed this fall across western Kentucky.
The kiosks, sponsored by Mercy Health through grant funding from the Mercy Health Foundation-Lourdes, join others that were installed last year at four public libraries. The kiosks came about through a partnership between the foundation and Louisville, Kentucky-based Family Scholar House, which works to empower families and youth "to succeed in education and achieve lifelong self-sufficiency," according to its mission statement.
Mercy Health Foundation-Lourdes funded 11 new digital kiosks that were installed this fall across western Kentucky. The kiosks provide information on community resources.
The new kiosks are at public health departments, Mercy Health — Marshall County Medical Pavilion in Benton; Mercy Health — Lourdes Hospital and Mercy Health — Paducah Medical Pavilion, both in Paducah; and on the campus of Western Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah.
Anyone can use the freestanding kiosks, which access a website called MyKY.info. Users can input gender, age, family status and other demographics to filter the results. Clicking an icon that represents everyday needs opens another menu of options and a list of services. "Urgent need" buttons lead to crisis lines, safe places, and live help. The latter helps users initiate a call to the Family Scholar House's Trager Response Center or directs them to 211, a United Way referral service.
"Mercy Health recognizes that a variety of social factors impact an individual's health and ability to thrive," Leigh Ann Ballegeer, director of community health at Mercy Health, said in a media release about the kiosks. "If someone is not able to meet their basic social needs, their health outcomes are negatively impacted. That's why Mercy Health is sponsoring these kiosks — to connect our neighbors with the resources they need, when they need them."
She added that during the system's last community health needs assessment, the community said a top need was communication of available resources, so the kiosks help address that.