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SMCH Hosts Forum To Address County-Wide Healthcare Needs

Photo: Participants in the Community Engagement Open Forum held at Stewart Memorial Community Hospital broke into small groups to discuss community health challenges. Gary Nicholson, Jane Condon, Shelly Schossow, Carol Collins, Glenda Gentry and Holly Espenhover discussed healthy behaviors and environments.

 

Over 50 people representing city, county, educational and health interests in Calhoun County met at Stewart Memorial Community Hospital earlier this month for the Living and Working Well Together: Iowa Hospital and Employer Community Engagement Open Forum. A webinar from the Iowa Hospital Association discussing how healthcare is transitioning from sick care to well care and the impact that will have on individuals and employers was presented by representatives from Calhoun County Public Health and SMCH. While the webinar was designed to present health initiatives at the state level, the main focus for the open forum was to examine efforts at the local level. Calhoun County Public Health Director, Jane Condon, detailed the results of the community needs assessment in 2015, identifying the top five health priorities as chronic disease management, excessive drinking and smoking in teens and adults, single-parent households, access to healthy food and access to healthcare. The forum opens collaborations between area businesses, government, schools, non-profit organizations and citizens in seeking ways to build healthy communities by setting goals and developing strategies to achieve those goals to address each identified issue. Cindy Carstens, chief operating officer at Stewart Memorial concluded the forum by saying there is much more discussion needed before solutions and programs can be implemented. As they continue to search for partners in these efforts, more community action meetings will be scheduled to create task forces to deal with the issues.

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