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Health Care Tour: “Seeking Patient-Centered Care”
Greenville Forward Visit
The Issue:
- Health care in Greenville is not just about facilities – it’s about health and wellness. Greenville Forward has a Task Force of 20-25 people working to promote wellness in the Upstate and across South Carolina.
Findings:
- Greenville Forward has existed for three years, and been a non-profit for two and a half years.
- The only real power the organization possesses is the power of the people backing it in the Greenville community.
- Greenville Forward is not focusing on economic development only. The focus is on enhancing quality of life.
- Right now, Greenville Forward is working on a health care reassessment survey. A previous assessment revealed that 31% of Greenville is medically underserved. Preliminary results show that this number has increased to 39%.
- Greenville faces significant health challenges.
- 58% of citizens are either overweight or obese and 23% live sedentary lifestyles.
- In 2005, heart disease, cancer and stroke are the top three leading causes of death (1,702) in Greenville County with hospital costs exceeding $318,114,600.
- Nearly 46,000 people in Greenville live below the poverty level. 13,073 children under the age of 18 live below poverty.
- The Greenville Forward Health and Wellness Task Force has set several goals for overcoming those challenges by 2025:
- Encourage people toward better health: increase the proportion of citizens at a healthy weight, reduce tobacco use, and reduce the proportion of people who engage in alcohol and drug abuse.
- Promote better health care services and systems of care: improve access to and utilization of a comprehensive system of care that will address medical, mental, and wellness needs, and identify and provide treatment for those struggling with addiction and mental health issues.
- Continue a successful track record of medical training, excellence and innovation and provide the benefits of this research and innovation to Greenville County.
- While the Task Force’s vision has an outlook to 2025, there are already some great health and wellness success stories in Greenville.
- Greenville banned smoking indoors within city limits. Regardless of the state Supreme Court ruling on a pending case, many restaurants have agreed to uphold the ban in their establishments.
- The Piedmont Health Care Association is working with the school district to address childhood obesity.
- Plans are underway for the Greenville Hospital System Swamp Rabbit Trail “Rails to Trails” Initiative, a 9 mile walking/biking trail that runs along the Reedy River connecting Travelers Rest with the City of Greenville .
When: Thursday, March 27, 2008
Where: 14 Manly St, Greenville, SC 29601
Hosts: Lillie Hall (Associate Director of Health Education, Public Health Region 2), Russell Stall (Executive Director, Greenville Forward), Brock Koonce (Program Director, Greenville Forward), Sydney Fanning (Public Relations Director, CommuniCare (Working for the Uninsured)), Jane Pressly (Consultant, Furman-Pressly Consulting, LLC ), Steve Epps (Corporate Benefits, Inc. (Employer Benefits), Ira Williams (Retired Physician and Book Author), Natalie Dougherty (St. Francis Hospital), Robin Scott Blackburn (Director, Greenville County Medical Society), Bill Pierce (Furman University), Phil Feisal (St. Francis Hospital)