About Us

Cairn Health, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) social service non-profit organization located in Wichita, Kansas with a mission to improve the health of individuals with a stronger support of primary care and prevention through a referral network. The organization is in good standing with the State of Kansas. This work increases the quality of life for all and reduces the strain on community-based resources such as emergency rooms, which uninsured and indigent patients often use instead of primary care clinics.

Cairn Health was established as “Medical Service Bureau” in 1937 by a group of physicians and nurses from the Medical Society of Sedgwick County whose goal was to build a social service agency where low-income persons could arrange for their medical needs according to their ability to pay. The process started on Friday, January 24, 1936, when an article appeared in the Wichita Beacon newspaper titled “Medical Help Will Be Given to Poor Folks,” “Community Chest Planning New System of Aid for the Need.” The article went on to report that the health division of the social service planning committee of the Community Chest (now known as United Way of the Plains) was mapping out a campaign of caring for families suffering from illness but who were unable to pay for the services of a physician or to buy medicine. It was suggested that a “Medical Service Bureau” be established. The organization was incorporated as a non-profit 501(c)(3) on July 26, 1978, and in 2019, changed its name to Cairn Health, Inc.