Monday was truly a banner day for the UMKC Health Sciences District as banners started going up on light poles ringing the area bounded by 22nd Street, Gillham Road, 25th Street and Troost.
The colorful 5- by 6-foot canvas banners each have two halves, one showing the district logo and the other the district motto (Healthier Together) and a photograph depicting one of the district’s four emphases: clinical patient care, research, health sciences education, and community health and outreach.
The banners are the latest effort to raise the profile of the district, which started in May 2017 and brings together UMKC and its Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Health Studies, and Pharmacy; Truman Medical Centers; Children’s Mercy; the Kansas City, Missouri, Health Department; the Missouri Department of Mental Health Center for Behavioral Medicine; the Jackson County Medical Examiner; Diastole Scholars’ Center; and the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Kansas City.
The district earlier this year announced that it is becoming the presenting sponsor for the Hospital Hill Run, to be held June 1 and 2 this year. For the past several years, the School of Medicine has sponsored the Friday evening 5K race that kicks off the weekend.
The UMKC Health Sciences District is unlike any other in the nation. It is one of 18 areas in the country that have public schools of medicine, pharmacy, dentistry and nursing in one location along with a children’s hospital and an adult, acute-care hospital. By including a health department, the medical examiner and a mental health center that bring together agencies of the city, county and state, the UMKC Health Sciences District is one of a kind.