Health care delivery, prevention remain a local challenge
November 2, 2009
Once Congress concludes whatever it finally does with health system reform, the reality is that all health care will continue to be local, delivered across the nation in unique communities, each reflecting the rich diversity of the United States.
Once I arrived in Tupelo, Miss., on Friday after a weather-related diversion to Birmingham, Ala., and a two-hour drive, I saw a community that is devoted to quality and education. From the North Mississippi Medical Center, the first hospital to win the Baldridge Award for Quality, to Health Works, an innovative child education center, it was clear to me that the medical community was a key to success.
In many national rankings on health care, Mississippi is not in the top ranks. But the presentations at the Mississippi Academy of Family Practice showed how rapid improvements are being made by focusing on education in the schools. Having the medical community work with both the primary and secondary educational community is going to be the solution to the obesity tsunami that is affecting America.
Health Works is an example of an interactive environment that uses verbal, auditory and tactile stimulation to teach the young about how the body works and ways to promote health through nutrition and physical activity. As was pointed out by Edward Hill, MD, a former AMA president who was my host, the town has around 30,000 people, and they came up with the millions of dollars needed to get the facility established, with physicians contributing more than $1 million to the total raised. Examples exist across the country where physicians can be leaders in developing community health.
So rest assured that after Congress finishes, we will continue to be faced with the challenge of making Americans healthy and urging them to stay that way. Having the community where they live focused on health at school, work and home will make that task much easier
Until later...
