Education/Wellness

 

Healthy Tri-State, Huntington, West VirginiaBookmark and Share

Being named the most obese and unhealthy community in the United States is a wake-up call for anyone in the so-named community. For a hospital in that community it's a call to action.

 

UpClose Cardiac Surgery Program, Cooperstown, New YorkBookmark and Share

The UpClose Cardiac Surgery Program was established in 2003 to educate 7th grade students about the importance of establishing heart-healthy habits early in life. Participants are provided the opportunity to understand how certain unhealthy behaviors lead to heart disease, and they witness, firsthand, the consequences of such unhealthy behaviors by viewing heart surgery.

 

The Mom Project, Big Bear Lake, CaliforniaBookmark and Share

The Mom Project was created to address the large number of women from the rural Big Bear Valley area of California who were presenting to give birth in the hospital emergency department with little or no prenatal care. Obstetric and gynecologic care and free child birthing classes are offered to help ensure that babies are born safe and healthy. Lactation classes, car seat safety workshops, parenting support groups, immunization workshops, and case management are also offered through the program.

 

Borgess Center for Diabetes Care, Kalamazoo, MichiganBookmark and Share

The Borgess Center for Diabetes Care is the only full-service diabetes treatment program in the Kalamazoo, Michigan service region with a component to serve low income uninsured or underinsured patients with diabetes. The goals of the center are to provide high quality care and educational services, to enhance patients' ability to self-manage, and to reduce emergency department use for non-emergent care needs.

 

Healthy You, Caribou, MaineBookmark and Share

The Healthy You program was created to address the wellness needs of small-town residents in Aroostook County, Maine, where various barriers to obtaining wellness services had helped lead to an excessive death rate from coronary disease, a 32% obesity rate, and high incidence rates of adult diabetes, hypertension, asthma, substance abuse, and suicide per capita, compared with other areas of Maine and the nation. The program is an informative and engaging free community health program designed to promote overall wellbeing for all residents through screenings, workshops, exercise classes, contests, and many more programs and activities.

 

Healthier Laramie County, Cheyenne, WyomingBookmark and Share

The goal of the Healthier Laramie County program is to maximize scarce resources to improve conditions of well-being for vulnerable community members.  Priorities for 2010-2013 are 1.) Healthy Weight & Activity Levels; 2.) Overcoming Cancer; 3.) Healthy Births; 4. Reduction of Preventable Illness and Injury; and 6.) Access to Care for vulnerable Populations. Successes include creation of a "free" clinic, which in turn led to the establishment of a not-for-profit federally qualified community health center, and creation of a centralized pharmacy, which distributes donated medications and prescription assistance.

 

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Community Health Screening, Geneva, New YorkBookmark and Share

The Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Community Health Screening event provided education and a thorough evaluation for 500 student athletes in grades 7-12 from 16 school districts in the Geneva, N.Y. area. The goal was to identify hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is the most common congenital cardiac abnormality and the leading cause of sudden death in young athletes. A team of 275 volunteers from a five-county area participated in the free day-long screening event, which took place at a health fair to promote cardiovascular fitness, and 45 students were found to have a cardiac abnormality.

 

Diabetes Symposia Series, Yuba City, CaliforniaBookmark and Share

The Diabetes Symposia Series was designed to provide education to combat Type 2 diabetes. The series began in 2007 as part of a Type 2 diabetes fair that provided free screenings, demonstrations, nutrition information, vendor exhibits and a medical panel. It was expanded in 2008 to include presentations for medical professionals, who could receive Continuing Education credits.

 

Flu-Free Quad Cities, Davenport, IowaBookmark and Share

Flu-Free Quad Cities is a flu vaccination program for the 10-county region of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois that is served by Genesis Health System.  The program provides free seasonal influenza vaccinations to thousands of elementary school students. Children in this age group typically are considered to be at low risk for complications from the flu, and therefore have a low vaccination rate, but they are very efficient carriers of the flu into the community.

 

Community Pandemic Influenza Clinic, Sanford, MaineBookmark and Share

Goodall Hospital executed a plan in Sanford, Maine to inoculate 1,200 children against the H1N1 flu virus during a one-day clinic during the H1N1 pandemic in 2009. The hospital worked with community partners to protect the most vulnerable members of the community against the virus, providing booster inoculations and additional clinics for at-risk populations. As a result, the community had one of the lowest rates of H1N1 cases reported in the state.

 

 

Minority Health Summit, Greenville, South CarolinaBookmark and Share

The Minority Health Summit is a collaborative effort with community partners, and is designed to educate and increase awareness of the major health disparities that disproportionately affect the lives of minorities in the community. The Health partners offer resources, assessments, and access to care to empower and equip African Americans and other minorities to take charge of their personal health by adopting healthy lifestyle changes. The annual event, which is provided free of charge, drew more than 3,000 attendees last year.

 

Men’s Health University, Oklahoma City, OklahomaBookmark and Share

Men's Health University is a series of events that take place throughout the year to educate men in the Oklahoma City area about the benefits of receiving routine health care and screenings. The goal is turn the tide on trends that have led men in the area to live shorter, less healthy lives than women. Health checks such as cholesterol, glucose, blood pressure and prostate cancer screening are featured at an annual Men's Health Fair, and other screenings and events are conducted throughout the year, including an African American Men's Health Forum, which was added this year to address the even higher health complications experienced by African American males.

 

Hispanic Health Initiatve, Oklahoma City, OklahomaBookmark and Share

INTEGRIS Health began the Hispanic Initiative in 2003 to improve the quality of life in the Hispanic community through education, resources, and health-related services. The objective of the Hispanic Initiative is to educate and understand cultural differences within the Hispanic communities. Hispanics in Oklahoma are at higher risk for diabetes, heart disease, and cancer due to language, cultural, and financial barriers.

 

Health Connections Program, Ashland, KentuckyBookmark and Share

Health Connections works with numerous community partners such as school districts, businesses and law enforcement, to provide health screenings, educational programs and community presentations in 14 counties in Kentucky, and 4 counties in Ohio. A particular focus of the program is battling cardiovascular disease, which begins with education in local schools, and also includes free healthy heart and comprehensive vascular screening for adults. In this year alone, team member volunteers dedicated more than 29,000 hours to Health Connections programs, serving more than 26,000 community members.

 

 

CPR Anytime, Jersey City, New JerseyBookmark and Share

The CPR Anytime program was designed to reduce the number of sudden deaths within the community from sudden cardiac arrest through education and awareness, particularly in Hispanic communities and among elementary school students. The program assists the community in determining how prepared they are to respond to cardiac emergencies, and also encourages training in the home setting, and in small, medium, and large organizations.

 

Navy Trauma Training Center, Los Angeles, CaliforniaBookmark and Share

The Navy Trauma Training Center is the Navy's first comprehensive trauma training program. It was established at Los Angeles County USC Medical Center in 2002 with the goal of training personnel assigned to deployable surgical platforms. The center's mission is to provide trauma experience and knowledge to these naval medical teams and give them an opportunity to learn each others' strengths and weaknesses- and to address those weaknesses and work together as a team while at NTTC, before they do so in the heat of battle.

 

International Fellowship in Trauma, Los Angeles, CaliforniaBookmark and Share

The International Fellowship in Trauma, Emergency Surgery and Surgical Critical Care Research is a training program for both medical postgraduates and practicing surgeons. It was developed to support the efforts of the World health Organization and the American College of Surgeons in promoting the dissemination of evidence-based trauma and emergency surgery practices throughout the world, and to foster a global partnership within the surgical community.

 

Annual Health Fair, Dillon, South CarolinaBookmark and Share

McLeod Medical Center Dillon has, for 22 years, provided free and low-cost health screenings to the medically underserved population of the rural community it serves during an annual Health Fair. The event enjoys strong employee, medical staff, and community participation, and reaches a population that faces poverty, has less than a 50% high school graduation rate, and struggles to overcome the challenges that prevent access to care.

 

 

Memorial FIT Kids, Owosso, MichiganBookmark and Share

The Memorial FIT Kids program in Owosso, Michigan, is a collaborative effort between Memorial Healthcare, local school districts and community partners such as the YMCA to combat cardiovascular disease through school-based education and screening. Participants receive lessons on nutrition and education and demonstrations regarding physical activity. The goal is to identify and reverse cardiovascular disease risk factors in children so they can grow up to be healthy, effective members of the community.

 

Fields of Green, Toledo, OhioBookmark and Share

Fields of Green serves as an umbrella organization for four health and nutrition education programs that target the problem of obesity in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan. The Fields of Green programs work to raise awareness about proper nutrition and exercise with a goal of reducing obesity incidence and increasing knowledge of, and access to healthier foods - particularly in underserved areas.

 

Healthy Kids Club, Joliet, IllinoisBookmark and Share

The Healthy Kids Club initiative focuses on combating the problem of childhood obesity by educating students and families about the importance of balanced nutrition and regular physical activity through three unique after-school programs: Camp Fitness for 3rd graders, Kids 'n Nature for 4th graders, and Smith Opportunities for Activities and Recreation for 5th graders. The programs are linked so that all participants can move into the next program to provide continuity with the education provided on healthy eating and physical activity.

 

The Center for Healthier Communities, San Diego, San Diego, CaliforniaBookmark and Share

The Center for Healthier Communities serves as the hub for Rady Children's Hospital's community health improvement programs and strategies. Current focus areas for the center include promotion of healthy lifestyles and obesity prevention, injury prevention, oral health, positive youth development, immunizations, childhood asthma care, and smoke-free families. The center works with community partners to provide programs that help address each of these areas.

 

Healthy FET Kids "Full Engagement Training, Farmington, New MexicoBookmark and Share

FET Kids is a collaboration between San Juan Regional Medical Center and four northern New Mexico school districts serving multi-cultural children from high-poverty families. The program's mission is to develop a successful, culturally appropriate and easily replicable classroom-based program to help low-resource, multicultural communities educate school staffs, students, and their families about how to live healthier lives. The program provides education on nutrition, physical activity, stress reduction, and energy management.

 

FITKids "Fitness Initiative Targeting Kids," Lansing, MichiganBookmark and Share

The Sparrow Foundation in Lansing, Michigan launched its Fitness Initiative Targeting Kids (FITKids) program to combat the significant problem of childhood obesity in the community. A recent report from National Action for Healthy Kids portrays Michigan children as some of the least fit, least active, and most overweight in the nation. FITKids takes a community-wide, multifaceted approach to risk modification to prevent poor lifestyle habits from following children into adulthood. The school-based program focuses on improving nutrition and increasing physical activity in middle school students.

 

Annual Caregiver Conference, Poughkeepsie, New YorkBookmark and Share

The Annual Caregiver Conference was developed to address the needs of caregivers providing home care services for the aging population in Dutchess County, N.Y. The premise is that preparedness and education are the key to managing the care of this population and allowing people to age with dignity. The goal of St. Francis Home Care Services in providing this free conference is to provide necessary education and support to improve the lives of both the individual in need and the caregiver.

 

Student Wellness Center, Grand Island, NebraskaBookmark and Share

The Student Wellness Center serves the 2,200-student community of Grand Island Senior High School in Grand Island, Nebraska. The school-based health wellness center - the first of its kind in Nebraska - is a partnership between the St. Francis Medical Center and Foundation, the Grand Island school district, and the area medical community, and its goal is to improve health care access in the community, which is a critical need. About half of the students at the high school are on Medicaid or don't have any medical insurance coverage, and the center provides those student - and all students - with access to health care, immunizations, counseling services and more.

 

Community Fitness Initiative (CFI), Lexington, KentuckyBookmark and Share

CFI: Lexington was created to address the problem of childhood obesity in the Lexington, Kentucky area. Tri-County Hospital works with several community partners, such as Lexington Public Schools, the City of Lexington, and the Lexington Community Foundation, to provide affordable tools and educational programs that promote healthy eating and physical activity. CFI: Lexington focuses mostly on students in kindergarten through fifth grade, but many programs are open to other age groups as well, and a particular effort is made to offer programs based around the family unit.

 

Guided Chronic Care, Kansas City, MissouriBookmark and Share

Guided Chronic Care is an innovative approach to better serve vulnerable patients in the Kansas City area who suffer from chronic diseases. An interdisciplinary team works with patients and their families to address non-medical issues that hinder access to ongoing cost-effective medical care, such as poor or no housing, lack of transportation, and lack of childcare, and the team also works with the patient's medical team to provide "warp-around" services.

 

Center for Healthy Living SNAP-Ed Program, Tacoma, WashingtonBookmark and Share

The Center for Healthy Living SNAP-Ed Program targets youth at risk for poor nutrition and obesity in the Tacoma, Washington school district by using USDA/DOH Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-ED) funding to improve school-based nutrition education. The goal is to improve the likelihood that participants will choose healthy foods and active lifestyles consistent with the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the new MyPyramid Food Guidance System. More than 400 students participated in the program the first year, and outcomes measures demonstrate substantial gains in nutrition knowledge among participants.

 

The Norma J. Peal, Ph.D. Healthy Reading Program , Tucson, ArizonaBookmark and Share

The Norma J. Peal, Ph.D. Healthy Reading Program was developed to combat the problem of illiteracy in Pima County, Arizona. The program works to provide high quality reading materials free of charge to patients and visitors of the University Physicians Healthcare Foundation. Many patients who benefit from this program are below federal poverty standards and may not otherwise have access to valuable reading materials.

 

The Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission Prevention Program, Baton Rouge, LouisianaBookmark and Share

The Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission Prevention Program is an individualized nursing case management program for HIV/AIDS-infected pregnant women and their babies from diagnosis to one year after delivery, and is the only such program provided by a nonpublic institution. Through the program, participants receive important education and resources, and are linked with local community resources after delivery.