(July 19, 2024) – The Kansas Hospital Association's Heart of Health Care Worker Award highlights hospital employees who have made a significant contribution to the betterment of their hospital. This week, KHA honors Laura Gaffney, MD, AdventHealth Shawnee Mission, for her service and contributions to health care.
AdventHealth Shawnee Mission has an amazing advocate within its ranks. Laura Gaffney, MD, is a role model and embodies a "can-do" attitude. Dr. Gaffney is the founder and medical director of the Special Pediatric to Adult Need Program, a primary care program for adults with special needs, including Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy and genetic disorders.
Dr. Gaffney has focused much of her practice on adults with special needs since 1996. The SPAN Program is Kansas City's only primary care program that provides comprehensive, patient-focused care for adults with a chronic condition that persists from childhood to adulthood; it's also one of only a handful of programs in the nation whose scope includes care for all enduring health disorders and that also provides care for family members of these special patients, creating a true medical home for the family.
Dr. Gaffney is exceptionally gifted at viewing complex situations from various perspectives and is a lifelong learner of new possibilities and innovations. The SPAN Program gives these special patients a consistent, reliable medical home. In the past five years, the SPAN Program has served more than 3,000 patients with special needs. Dr. Gaffney is known for her ability to help these patients, and their families, feel comfortable in a medical setting, an added challenge for people with sensory sensitivities and developmental disabilities.
Outside of the clinic, Dr. Gaffney is an active advocate in her field, working closely with the statewide Kansas Council on Developmental Disabilities and the B.E. Smith Family Center, which includes the Britain Development Center that provides preschool and therapy services to children with physical and developmental disabilities.
Dr. Gaffney, and other Heart of Health Care Worker Award nominees, will be recognized during the KHA Awards Luncheon at the 2024 KHA Annual Convention on Sept. 5, 2024, at Sheraton Overland Park/Overland Park Convention Center, Overland Park.
--Shelby Stacy