Jefferson County physician Steven Crawford has resigned from the Jefferson County Community Mental Health Fund Board (JCCMHFB) after serving 32 years on the board.
Crawford, 74, stepped down from the board last month, and the Jefferson County Council recognized him with a proclamation the same day he resigned, naming April 22, 2024, Dr. Steven Crawford Day.
“It’s been a pleasure to be able to serve the people of Jefferson County,” Crawford said during the April 22 County Council meeting. “We have incredible mental health needs that are assisted greatly by the county. Thank you and the other council members for all the support that you’ve given out in this county.”
He said he had to leave the board due to scheduling conflicts.
Crawford owns the De Soto Family Practice and acts as medical director for several nursing homes in the county.
JCCMHFB executive director Nick Davis said Dr. Kenneth Kilian, a family practice physician in Crystal City, has replaced Crawford on the nine-member board. Davis said at least one physician residing in Jefferson County must always be on the board.
The JCCMHFB was established about 40 years ago by the Jefferson County Commission and Comtrea, which is now Compass Health Network. The board distributes funding from the Jefferson County Mental Illness property tax levy of .0857 cents per $100 assessed valuation and a 1/8-cent Community Children’s Services sales tax to medical and mental health service providers.
Crawford said the tax revenues help provide Jefferson County residents in need with access to mental health and substance use treatment services.
“(JCCMHFB) has been instrumental in the county,” Crawford said. “If you look back, you’d be amazed to see how much the county has given for mental health services. It’s been, I think, very important, and we still don’t have enough money today.”
For the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the board awarded more than $9 million to 14 agencies in Jefferson County, with Compass receiving $7,102,500 for 16 services it provides.
A total of 12 agencies were awarded $6.3 million from the Children’s Service Fund, and six agencies were awarded $3,060,000 from the Adult Mental Health Fund.
Sue Curfman, regional senior vice president of corporate services at Compass, said she became acquainted with Crawford prior to Comtrea’s merger with Compass last year. Curfman joined Comtrea in 2016 and acted as CEO until the merger.
“(Crawford) and I really hit it off because we shared the same goals for access to care, resources for mental health and a deep level of caring and compassion for the individual,” Curfman said. “He’s a very compassionate doctor and highly regarded and respected by his patients and families.”
Setting up his practice
Crawford moved to Jefferson County in 1982 to open a practice in Barnhart.
Originally from central Iowa, Crawford earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Northeast Missouri State University, now Truman State University, in Kirksville, and went on to earn a degree in osteopathy from Kirksville College in 1981.
After college Crawford served in the National Public Service Corps, which works to provide health care in areas with significant shortages in health care providers by offering public health scholarships for physicians. He landed in Barnhart.
“I could do a federal penitentiary, I could do an inner city, I could do an Indian reservation (with the program),” Crawford said. “I looked up acceptable places for placement, and Jefferson County was the same (rate of pay). I thought I’d rather be in Jefferson County than at a federal penitentiary or the inner city. That’s how I ended up here.”
After two years in Barnhart, Crawford moved his practice to De Soto, where he said health needs were greater at the time.
Crawford said a federal grant for rural health programs helped him open the De Soto Family Practice. The practice is at 12 Jefferson Square. In addition to Crawford, two full-time nurse practitioners work in the practice. Another nurse practitioner works full time with Crawford visiting patients at various nursing homes in the county.
From 1995 to 2005, Crawford also worked as a doctor for the Farmington Correctional Center, and then the Potosi Correctional Center. He said he administered care and performed checkups for inmates.
“When I decided to start a rural health clinic, which is a federal program, you go for a long period of time where you don’t get any money at all – Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or any of that stuff,” Crawford said. “I had an offer to go work at a prison and I said, ‘OK, I’ll do that for a few months and that’s a paycheck.’
“I worked there a little longer than expected.”
Crawford said he elected to examine the inmates in a private room without law enforcement supervision.
“(The inmates) were certainly more open with me because of it,” Crawford said. “I heard some really great stories that were later on ‘60 Minutes’ or ‘20/20.’”
Conservation
Crawford said he has spent time over the past 40 years visiting Africa to support wildlife conservation, adding that his passion for conservation began with a vacation to Zimbabwe to celebrate graduating from medical school.
“I went to Africa and I got hooked,” he said. “You know, I come from Iowa – I tell people I came to Missouri just to see what a tree looked like.”
Crawford founded the African Wildlife Conservation Project in 2016, which is a small local group focused on raising awareness about the problem of illegal poaching of lions, elephants, and buffalo in Mozambique.
He said one of his most memorable trips was to Seal Island near Cape Town, South Africa. Crawford and his youngest son, Tyler, went scuba diving to get an up-close view of great white sharks.
“That day, there were 6,000 great white sharks in the area,” Crawford said. “We were down (in a cage) for about half an hour. I told my son to keep his hands inside. I said, ‘If you don’t come home with all your limbs, I won’t have a home to come home to.’ I’ll be darned, I’m watching a shark behind me, and I turn around, and there he is touching a great white shark.”
Crawford said his wife, Renea, is not so keen on African safaris and scuba diving with sharks, but many of his children and grandchildren have joined him on his African adventures.
His children include Laurin Wilson, Steven Crawford, Brooke Abel and Tyler Crawford. He also has eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Crawford said he has no intention of retiring from his family practice any time soon.
Curfman said Crawford brought a high level of compassion and thoughtfulness to JCCMHFB, and she’s sad to see him go.
“In his practice, he doesn’t just focus on the physical condition of the patient but the whole function,” she said. “He brought that passion to the board and reminded all of us why we are there – it’s that access to care and being that safety net. He’s an amazing person.”