Healthy Community Day
Loading...
Date
2019-04
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ohio State University. Office of Outreach and Engagement
Abstract
We will provide an overview of Community Health Day/Healthy Community Day which is the Medical Center's largest day of giving back. The day includes comprehensive, free screenings focusing on the community's areas of greatest need including: infant mortality, chronic disease, obesity, addiction and mental health, and access to care. Screenings include kidney, podiatry, vision, glucose, and sports physicals. Additionally, free food and entertainment for the entire family is part of the day's activities. The event was held this year at the Schottenstein Center to reach a new and larger audience. Partners and contributors are community and university partners such as The Schottenstein Center, Fisher College's Risk Institute, Columbus Fire Department, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and the Columbus Public Health Department.
Description
Wexner Medical Center is exploring a more strategic approach to its community health engagement efforts – shifting from "community benefits" to "community health" to focus on investments in population health that respond to central Ohio's Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and to the State of Ohio by aligning with the State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP). The areas outlined in the CHNA for central Ohio are infant mortality, infectious disease, mental health and addiction, obesity, chronic disease, and access to care. The state has identified three main areas of concern: infant mortality, mental health and addiction, and chronic disease (along with the contributors to these diseases such as obesity and smoking). For more than 17 years, Wexner Medical Center has sponsored this annual neighborhood-based event on the Near East Side to help improve the lives of those who live in and around University Hospital East. Screenings and evaluations included breast and prostate, hearing, dental, vision, glucose, cholesterol, body mass index, lung function, podiatry, blood pressure, pulmonary function, mammography, sexually transmitted diseases and sports physicals for middle and high school students. Several coaches brought their entire team on a school bus to the event for the free sports physicals. The screenings are private, conducted in the exam rooms inside our Near East Side outpatient facility formerly called CarePoint East. More than 800 people attended and received 2,500 screenings in 2017. In addition to screenings, more than 60 Ohio State entities and community partners exhibited at the event, including the Department of Aging, United Way, Columbus Police and Fire departments, the American Diabetes Association, and the Columbus Public Health department, to name a few. In addition to the informational booths, the event featured cooking demonstrations and free healthy food items, musical entertainment and children's activities. In 2017, we secured more support to grow the event, offset costs and to increase promotion with the addition of WBNS-10TV and The Columbus Dispatch as sponsors. We believe this extra promotion expanded our reach and increased participation in the event. Faced with space constraints at the Near East Side location and the goal to offer an additional central location to serve more people, Wexner Medical Center hosted a second Healthy Community Day at the Schottenstein Center. We partnered with the Schottenstein Center and 10TV – who previously held a health and wellness expo. We also worked with the Fisher College of Business and Risk Institute and Maria's Message on a distracted driving campaign that included a drive to The Schott and driving simulators at Healthy Community Day.
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Holly Stephens, director, WMC, ann.stephens@osumc.edu (Corresponding Author); Kim Knight, senior consultant, WMC; Lori Stewart, senior consultant, WMC
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Holly Stephens, director, WMC, ann.stephens@osumc.edu (Corresponding Author); Kim Knight, senior consultant, WMC; Lori Stewart, senior consultant, WMC
Keywords
community health, engagement, partnerships, university collaboration
Citation
Engaged Scholars, v. 7 (2019).