OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — In this edition of the Morning Lift, KMTV's Zach Williamson picks up Heartland Family Service President & CEO John Jeanetta.
This year marks 150 years of the non-profit serving neighbors in eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa. For an idea of how many lives Heartland Family Service have had an impact on in that time, Jeanetta says they touched the lives of more than 100,000 people in 2024 alone. He added that recent research showed at least one person in every county in Iowa and Nebraska has been somehow connected to service delivery from HFS, as they have dispersed throughout the two states.
In the physical healthcare world they focus primarily on the social determinants of health and behavioral health. Program focus areas include mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment and prevention, a wide-range of housing services, survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault, and community well-being.
Jeanetta says these core issues can keep people really stuck. While physical healthcare is great and extremely important, he says if you don't address those underlying traumas they will haunt your present and future. Jeanetta says they're always looking at how they can better integrate what they do to create a deeper impact for their clients that is sustained and they don't have to come back.
To help HFS continue to make an impact by making a donation or signing up to volunteer, or if you or your family need help from HFS, click here.
Other things discussed in the video above:
- The well-being of clients is the gift that keeps on giving.
- Jeanetta says it's a cycle that creates a positive loop for families, which in turn is great for our community.
- A new approach to mental health and substance abuse treatment: Certified Community Behavior Health Clinic.
- It was implemented in Iowa July 1 and will be implemented in Nebraska starting on January 1 of 2026.
- Will increase presense throughout smaller towns and communities in southwest Iowa and eastern Nebraska.
- It will also improve immediate access with the goal of 24 hour access.
- Heartland Family Service has 20 locations throughout the area.
- The two drive by three different locations that provide different services for those in ineed in our community.
- Some of the potential causes for the increase in mental health issues.
- Exposure to technology too soon, social media, and adverse childhood experiences.
- The impact the presence of a caring adult can have on a child dealing with trauma.
