Leadership
Hilda Fuentes
Chief Executive Officer
Under the leadership of Hilda Fuentes, the Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center has undergone transformations on several levels. Most recently this includes, an extensive capital campaign that has been successfully concluded, ensuring construction of a new, larger facility adjacent to the existing Health Center. The new $25.1 million building will open in early 2012, and will provide access to quality health care services for an additional 7,200 residents in the Kansas City community. Planning is also underway for the development of the new Legacy Park, named in honor of the Health Center's founder, Dr. Samuel U. Rodgers. The park will be situated on land now occupied by the current structure, which was built in 1971.
Ms. Fuentes has a Master of Science in Public Administration from Eastern Michigan University, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Southeastern University in Washington, D.C. Before joining the staff of the Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center as CEO in 2005, Ms. Fuentes served as the deputy director and division chief for the Kansas City Health Department in Kansas City, Missouri. She has also worked as a consultant for Hospice Management Partners, as Vice-President for Saint Luke's-Shawnee Mission Health System, Director of Development for Cabot Westside Clinic in Kansas City, and as Vice-President of Hospice Services for the Sisters of Mercy Health Care Corporation.
Ralph Caro, MBA, CMPE
Chief Operations Officer 
Ralph Caro, Jr., joined the Center in 2008. He has over 30 years of business experience and service in the healthcare community in Kansas City. He served as chairman of the Swope Parkway Health Center Board of Directors in Kansas City, Missouri, and as the Chief Operating Officer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Swope Health Services. Ralph is also an adjunct professor at the graduate level at the University of Missouri-Kansas City's (UMKC) Bloch School of Business.
Mr. Caro has a Master of Business Administration from UMKC and a Bachelor of Science in Zoology from University of Kansas. He has served on the Lincoln University Board of Curators in Jefferson City, Missouri, the United Inner Cities Services Board, in Kansas City, Missouri, and as an officer with the Missouri Primary Care Association. In addition, he is a member of the Enshriners--a group of local business leaders raising funds to implement beautification projects in the Kansas City, Missouri area.
Daniel T. Purdom, M.D.
Chief Health Officer
Board Certified by the American Board of Family Medicine 
Daniel Purdom, M.D., is responsible for the Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center's medical practice offices at all locations. He has a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Medical College of Georgia, completing his residency in 1991 at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
In addition, Dr. Purdom serves as the Medical Director for the Jackson County and Clay County, Missouri, Health Departments. He is an assistant professor in the Department of Community and Family Medicine at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, in Kansas City, Missouri. He is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, and has served as its President. He is also a member of the Metropolitan Medical Society of Kansas City and the Missouri Academy of Family Physicians. Dr. Purdom is also a division medical director for the Missouri Disaster Medical Assistance Team.
In 2008, Dr. Purdom was selected as the "Missouri Family Physician of the Year" by the Missouri Academy of Family Physicians.
Bob Theis
Chief Financial Officer
Bob Theis has a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the University of Kansas, a Master of Accounting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Mr. Theis is a licensed Certified Public Accountant. He previously worked at Grant Thornton and Saint Luke's-Shawnee Mission Health Center, and he has been a consultant to CPA firms. Bob won the 2010 Chief Financial Officer of the Year Award for Small Nonprofit Organizations, given by the Kansas City Business Journal.
Helen Darby
Chief Clinical and Nursing Officer 
Helen Darby joined the Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center in 2006, as the leader for clinical and nursing services programs at all sites. She has a Master of Arts in Healthcare Management and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Webster University, Kansas City.
Ms. Darby served as the director of practice management, network and community care at Truman Medical Centers, and was the corporate director of Health Services in the managed care division. Ms. Darby serves on the Lafayette County Health Care Coalition Board and is on the advisory board for the Kansas City University of Medical and Bio-Science's "Score One for Health" program. She leads the Health Services Ministry Program for her church and writes health related articles for the church's monthly news letter publication.
Ruth Terrell
Chief Marketing and Development Officer 
Ms. Terrell received her Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, in Kansas City, Missouri.
In her position at Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center, Ms. Terrell oversees the organization's development efforts, community outreach endeavors, corporate & legislative affairs, patient satisfaction, recruitment and retention, volunteer management and all public relations and marketing activities
Recently, selected as a 2012 Influential Woman of Kansa City, Ms. Terrell has served as a sales and management executive in the private and public sectors in Kansas City before becoming employed at the Health Center. She previously was employed at the at the Kansas City Convention and Visitors Association, where she managed and executed multi-million dollar conventions for the City of Kansas City. Manager.
Ms. Terrell is one of the founders of the Académie Lafayette, a French immersion public charter school in Kansas City, the first such school granted a charter in the state, and also served as President of its Board of Directors. Ms. Terrell currently serves on the Advisory Board of Académie Lafayette and was recognized as the "2005 Educator of the Year" by the Charter School Allaince. She was presented the Leadership in Education Award by the Urban League of Greater Kansas City and the City of Kansas City.
Currently, Ms. Terrell serves as a board member of both the Black Chamber of Commerce and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City and Kansas University Women's Heart Health Advisory Board. In her recent past Ms. Terrell has held held leadership positions within the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and is a life time member.
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