Leader Publications will answer its readers’ calls for additional coverage of health-related topics.
The Leader will begin publishing more stories about various trends in the medical field, health struggles, fitness, nutrition and more thanks in part to a grant the Missouri Press Foundation recently received from the Jefferson Foundation.
The foundation awarded a $40,000 grant to the Missouri Press Foundation in its first round of grants this year. The grant will help pay for expanded coverage of health-related topics in the Leader Publications’ three weekly newspapers – the Jefferson County, Arnold-Imperial and West Side Leaders – as well as the biweekly Eureka Leader.
“Health care is a wide topic and has a heightened interest for people,” Editor Gary Castor said. “Our goal is to do stories that are centered around Jefferson County that we all have an interest in.”
Publisher Peggy Scott said the newspaper is increasing its health-topic coverage because of the responses the company received from community members, who were asked what information they would like to see more of in the Leader.
“We did a community listening tour to see if there were areas that the Leader could improve, and if there was coverage that we might be able to improve,” Scott said. “Through that process, we overwhelmingly heard the theme that health-related coverage is what people were wanting more of in the newspaper.”
Castor said the Leader plans to have a reporter dedicated to covering health-related topics, and there will be a monthly page dedicated to the subject.
“We hope to grow that as resources and information comes to us,” he said. “We want to increase the reach.
“We hope to create a health calendar that will list blood drives someone may want to participate in or to tell people about screenings available in the county. As schools get closer to starting in August, for instance, there will be trainers available to do physicals for student-athletes and things like that.”
Scott said the additional coverage is an expansion of health news that the Leader has delivered since starting publication in 1994 with the Jefferson County Leader.
“The foundation awards a lot of grants to organizations that address health issues,” she said. “We have done many stories about the types of services available, but there are more organizations than we could cover with our existing staff. I will anticipate throughout the year, we will see more stories about services available thanks to the Jefferson Foundation’s grant money.”
Scott also said in order to produce more health-related stories, the Leader needed the additional money to pay for a reporter to cover the desired topic.
“We needed more reporting power,” she said. “We partnered with the Missouri Press Foundation because our goal of increasing and improving news coverage aligns with their goal. We are very excited to start some enhanced coverage that our readers want us to do. We are going to deliver.”
Scott said the expanded health coverage also will allow the company to highlight more organizations that receive Jefferson Foundation grants each year.
The Jefferson Foundation began on Jan. 31, 2013, as the Jefferson Memorial Community Foundation, funded with more than $150 million in proceeds from the sale of Jefferson Regional Medical Center (originally Jefferson Memorial Hospital) to the Mercy health system.
The foundation began awarding grants in 2014 with the money given to organizations to help advance the health and well-being of people in Jefferson County. It started awarding grants two times a year in 2018.
Missy Endres, Jefferson Foundation executive vice president, said the organization is thrilled the grant will help provide more information about health-related topics to the county.
“I think the more that is out there for the public to learn from is huge,” she said.
Castor said the Leader encourages organizations and readers to submit suggestions for health topics that may be published in the newspapers.
Submissions my be sent through the Leader’s website, myleaderpaper.com, emailed to news@myleaderpaper.com or by calling 636-931-7560.
“The vision is evolving,” Castor said. “As the landscapes becomes clearer, we will see more opportunities. We welcome suggestions about what stories we are missing or should consider and what agencies are providing valuable resources to elevate the health care of Jefferson County residents.”
Scott said Leader Publications may partner with other organizations in the future to continue to expand health coverage in the company’s newspapers.
“We have the partnership with the Missouri Press Foundation and Jefferson Foundation, but if there are other partners out there who see the value of expanding health coverage, they can call and talk with us,” she said. “We think there is more that we can do, if we have more partners.”
Read about other recipients of Jefferson Foundation grants:
The Jefferson Foundation has awarded the most money in a single round since moving to a two-round grant cycle eight years ago.