Missouri’s first community health center is rebuilding the front door of care for men who have spent years avoiding it.
At Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center, the patient roster tells the story before any chart does. Roughly, just one of every three patients is a man. Most of those visits are curative, which means the men who do walk through the door usually arrive with something already wrong.
“If it killed Dr. Rodgers, prostate cancer could kill anyone,” said Bob Theis, CEO of Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center, referring to the founder who built Missouri’s first community health center in 1968 and died of the disease decades later. “It’s one of the things men hate the most, and it’s one of the things that saves lives.”
Closing the distance between those two facts, what men avoid and what would save them, has become a central focus of the Center’s work in Kansas City, where the data on men’s health is unforgiving.
An estimated 5,510 Missouri men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year, and 650 will die, according to ZERO Prostate Cancer. Heart disease remains the leading cause of death for American men, accounting for roughly one in every four male deaths, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And nearly 600,000 Missouri adults, about 12.3% of the adult population, are living with diagnosed diabetes, up from 11.2% just two years earlier, according to the state’s 2025 Missouri Diabetes Report.
Yet men are far less likely than women to do anything about it. A CDC analysis found men are 33% less likely than women to visit a doctor. The Cleveland Clinic’s MENtion It survey reported that nearly three in four men would rather do household chores than go to a regular checkup.
Rebuilding the front door
Theis’ first move, when asked what closes the gap, is not to talk about screenings. It is to talk about a relationship. He wants every Kansas City man to have a primary care provider he describes as a coach, someone who already knows the patient’s numbers, history, and habits before a problem arrives.
“If it’s been 10 years, don’t wait another year,” Theis said. “Establish that relationship, because it takes a while to get in.”
An initial appointment with a new provider can take months to schedule, a wait Theis frames as the upfront cost of an investment. Once a man is established as a patient, follow-up visits, same-day sick appointments, and prescription refills move quickly. Sam Rodgers’ men’s health services centers its work on the well-man exam, which it recommends annually starting at age 18, and uses each visit to layer in blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, prostate, testicular, and behavioral health screenings.
“Know your numbers,” Theis said, naming the same three each time. Blood pressure. Cholesterol. A1C. “If your blood pressure is out of control, you’re going to have a heart attack or a stroke. Have a plan before it happens.”
Behavioral health, in the same building
The gap Theis worries about almost as much as prostate screening is behavioral health, particularly among men in the region’s rural counties. Missouri’s suicide rate of 18.7 per 100,000 sits well above the national average of 14.04, according to the state’s 2024–2028 Suicide Prevention Plan. Rural men ages 35 to 44 carry triple the statewide suicide mortality rate, per the Missouri Hospital Association, and every one of Missouri’s 99 rural counties is designated a Mental Health Professional Shortage Area.
Sam Rodgers tries to remove the friction that drives men away from that kind of care by housing behavioral health services inside the same building as primary care. A man who comes in for a blood pressure check can walk down the hall for a counseling appointment during the same visit. The Center’s providers cover stress, depression, anxiety, and substance use.
“It’s okay to talk about behavioral health. It’s okay to seek a behavioral health provider,” Theis said. The barrier, in his experience, is more often shame than access. For moments when a clinical visit is not enough, he points men toward 988, the national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. “The hardest conversations you have are the ones you just have in your head and not out loud.”
Social isolation, he said, deserves the same urgency as any clinical risk factor. Missouri ranks 42nd in the country in life expectancy outlook, in part due to stress, sleep, and disconnection, Flatland KC reported. “Go out and visit an elderly person. Go visit someone who lives in assisted living,” Theis said. “It should be a civic duty.”
Removing the everyday obstacles
Theis is candid that the trust gap with healthcare is not something a flyer can fix. The most effective referral, he said, is still a friend or family member who already has a provider they trust. Sam Rodgers tries to make the rest of the trip easier.
Free transportation is offered to and from any Sam Rodgers location within a 10-mile radius, removing one of the most common reasons appointments get canceled. Telehealth visits are available for routine care and follow-ups, so that men juggling shift work or job sites do not have to choose between a paycheck and a checkup. On-site Medicaid enrollment specialists and Affordable Care Act counselors help patients sort out coverage before a bill becomes a barrier.
The Center also takes screenings outside its walls. Sam Rodgers staff regularly check blood pressure at community events around Kansas City. More than once, Theis said, those screenings have ended with someone being sent straight to the hospital after a reading came back dangerously high.
Coverage in 2027
The work is about to get harder. Federal changes to Medicaid scheduled to take effect in 2027 are expected to leave more Missourians without coverage, and Theis worries the consequences will be quiet at first and severe later.
“I really do think it’s going to be a wake-up call,” he said, describing the coming changes as a threat to people who may stop seeking care once they lose coverage. Theis emphasized a fact that many men do not know: an annual wellness visit is covered by all insurance plans and remains one of the most cost-effective tools in medicine for catching disease early.
Asked which gap he believes Kansas City can close first, Theis did not hesitate. Diabetes. The condition accounts for roughly 25% of U.S. healthcare spending, the American Diabetes Association reports. Type 2 diabetes can often be reversed with weight loss and lifestyle changes. And per the National Eye Institute, diabetic eye disease is a leading cause of vision loss in American adults, a complication most men never connect to the same numbers Theis is asking them to memorize.
“If we’re going to save money in the healthcare system, we’re going to save it on diabetes,” Theis said. “And by the way, have your annual wellness exam. Pick a day you’ll remember. Father’s Day. Your birthday. Just pick a day.”
Men’s health services at Sam Rodgers are available by appointment at samrodgers.org or by calling (816) 474-4920.
