Healthcare coverage now offered to all Ferris ISD staff, students, and families

FERRIS – Imagine a time when leaders within a community – official leaders (those elected or appointed to their formal positions) as well as the many informal community leaders – work together to set community vision; listen to community stakeholders to better understand community assets and needs; (re)allocate resources to address community issues or advance community initiatives; use community scorecards to monitor progress of those initiatives and the outcomes they intend to impact; and engage, mobilize, and align people resources – workers, volunteers, and citizenry – on the initiatives that will make a difference in a given community. 

That’s how high performing organizations succeed.

That is what Ferris City Manager Brooks Williams is working to fully integrate into its governance and operational culture.

According to Williams, “We believe that’s how high performing communities will succeed, and that is why we believe it is our responsibility to be a strong partner to our ISD.”

The City of Ferris recently rolled out “Access for All” in partnership with MD Health Pathways to offer zero-cost telehealth services with immediate access to a clinician.

After engaging with other community leaders and listening to the voice of stakeholders, the need to provide the “Access for All” program to the ISD became clear and Williams went to work.

“I am proud to announce today that the City of Ferris has negotiated with MD Health Pathways, and not only are the City of Ferris residents covered by this program, but all staff, students, and the families of those staff and students are now covered, at no cost to Ferris ISD or the families,” Williams said.

He went on to say the program, “already covered those staff members, students, and families who lived within the incorporated city limits of Ferris; however, we were missing those who were a part of the Ferris ISD but lived outside our city limits. The importance to cover the entire community drove us to negotiate for that to happen.”

MD Health Pathways, the City of Ferris, and the Ferris ISD are working to establish a registration process for staff, students, and their families, like the process already in place for City of Ferris residents. More information is expected to be provided to Ferris ISD personnel, students, and their families in the coming days.

Williams said the decision to advocate for this was an easy one.

“We saw an important opportunity to improve the overall health and well-being of the people in our community and to make a positive impact. We value our relationship with the Ferris ISD and are proud to see this program extend to them. Ferris is family and we take care of one another.”

The City of Ferris has been working to develop shared strategies and action plans to solve the most important challenges and to advance the common good by providing a roadmap to sustainable community performance excellence.

The roadmap allows Ferris to face their challenges while demanding high performance and a commitment to achieve desired outcomes. The implementation of “Access for All” and its expansion to the Ferris ISD is an example of how Ferris is working to build a sustainable community through performance excellence.

For more information on “Access for All,” community members are encouraged to visit Ferris.MDHealthPathways.com.