care or will be locked into positions with no opportunities for advancement. Initial training will focus on such positions as pharmacist assistant, medical assistant, laboratory assistant, X-ray assistant, medical records transcriber, and home health aide. The program will utilize full pay released time to enable trainees to take additional course work at Metropolitan Junior College or the University of Missouri at Kansas City. This training will lead to certification, an A..A. degree, B.A. degree, or higher for those who wish to continue in various health

helds.

Model cities is working with Kansas City's health agencies and the planners of the new medical school to mold a unified approach to health care for all citizens. All residents should be able to share in a Sgle health delivery system which provides comprehensive care without regard to personal financial status. With more efficient utilization of our manpower facilities, and financial resources and the establishment of national health goals, the isolated subsystems of care for the poor, now so prevalent, will become a thing of the past.

T..at is the statement I have to make.

Senator EAGLETON. Thank you very much.

(I he prepared statement of Mr. Threatt follows:)

PREPARED STATEMENT OF JAMES I. THREATT, DIRECTOR, MODEL CITIES PROGRAM, KANSAS CITY, Mo.

The Kansas City, Missouri, Model Cities Program has identified many of the heith problems in the Model Neighborhood: high infant mortality, high rates of communicable and chronic disease, high incidence of mental disease, environmer tai health hazards, and others. These are not unusual problems. All urban areas suffer the same hardships.

Some of the causes of these problems are well known: insufficient health manpower and facilities, a fragmented and uncoordinated medical care system, lack of an adequate financing mechanism, practically nonexistent national health policies, and inadequate public health education.

The problems and their causes and some workable solutions have been known for the time. It is part of Model Cities role as a demostration agency to show how some of these solutions might be applied. With this in mind, the following programs have been initiated.

The comprehensive health center will provide complete physician services, dental care, social services, public health nursing, home health aides, child care, and transportation services for all Model Neighborhood residents. The center wil employ 102 people with many trainee level positions. The center will be wrdinated with the Wayne Miner Health Center. General Hospital, and the new medical school. Seven Model Neighborhood residents serve on the Health Centers Board of Directors with an additional seven members representing varions health agencies.

The health center is a multipurpose group practice--an arrangement which has proved to be most beneficial to the patient. True comprehensive care is demonstrated by providing services which make medical care more accessible mr.d acceptable to the patient.

This is a pilot project to determine the procedures necessary for setting up a hesh insurance program for all Model Neighborhood re idents Two thousand patients were selected at random from those Wayne Miner Health Center pa fents who have no other insurance, such as Medicare or Medicaid, to pay their His when they require hospitalization Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Wayne Miner Health Center, the City Health Department, and Model Cities are cooperating to .tiplement this project. There are no deductible or co-insurance provisions, The insurance program went into operation July 1, 1970. If the plan for Year Two is approved by HUD, the number of persons covered will be increased to alert 5,000 persons.

Model Cities is providing more hospital facilities through two projects-Martin Luther King Hospital and General Hospital Expansion.

Model Cities is contributing $1 million to help build the new Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Hospital. Minority labor will be used in the construction of this hospital. In addition, the hospital will provide training for Model Neighborhood residents in health career jobs, maintain a 24-hour emergency service, and reserve five percent of its beds for medically indigent patients. The addition of two clinic floors to the existing three-story Diagnostic and Treatment Center at Kansas City General Hospital will provide space to expand outpatient service for the medically indigent. This additional space will make it possible to provide general medicine, medical specialty, and surgical subspecialty outpatient back-up to the Wayne Miner and Model Cities Health Centers. In addition, the outpatient department will participate in the medical school's docent program.

While attempting to meet the needs in community mental health and environmental health, we are making career opportunities available to Model Neighborhood residents. For example, seven community residents were hired and trained as mental health aides by the Western Missouri Mental Health Center. These residents will work with other mental health workers, the Wayne Miner Health Center staff, and the Model Cities Health Center personnel in helping residents with emotional problems.

Model Neighborhood residents have been hired as housing code inspector trainees. The trainees will be trained by the City Health Department to become housing inspectors and will be assigned to the Model Neighborhood. These trainees will not only inspect homes, but will also help residents secure low cost loans and grants for home improvement.

Special effort is being made to fill the health manpower gap by training Model Neighborhood residents. The University of Missouri at Kansas City-Metropolitan Junior College Career Development Training Consortium, funded by Model Cities, will work closely with the medical school and the neighborhood health centers, to develop long range career development programs for Model Cities residents. These residents typically will have no previous experience in health care or will be locked into positions with no opportunities for advancement. Initial training will focus on such positions as pharmacist assistant, medical assistant, laboratory assistant, x-ray assistant, medical records transcriber, and home health aide. The program will utilize full-pay released time to enable trainees to take additional course work at Metropolitan Junior College or the University of Missouri at Kansas City. This training will lead to certification, an A.A. degree, B.A. degree, or higher for those who wish to continue on in various health fields.

Model Cities is working with Kansas City's health agencies and the planners of the new medical school to mold a unified approach to health care for all citizens. All residents shou'd be able to share in a single health delivery system which provides comprehensive care without regard to personal financial status. With more efficient utilization of our manpower, facilities, and financial resources and the establishment of national health goals, the isolated sub-systems of care for the poor, now so prevalent, will become a thing of the past.

FOREWORD

Model Cities is on the move. After months of careful planning, we are launching the projects of our First Action Year These projects have grown out of a partnership between citizens and government.

The Model Cities Program does not pretend to be an instant cure for urban ills Instead, it represents a sincere attempt to pull together persons and organizations of widely differing interests and attitudes to benefit all Kansas Citians.

Through Model Cities, the involvement of people in the process of government has become a reality The quality, extent, and substance of this working partnership will determine the success of the Model Cities program.