Click to enlarge photos.By Marcus E. Howard
Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer
MARIETTA - The late WellStar President and CEO Dr. Robert Lipson first introduced WellStar's Institute for Better Health in September 2006. But when he died two months later in a motorcycle crash, the institute gradually faded away with time.
"It was his huge idea to see it come to life - and in some ways it did go what I call dormant for a while," said Ellen Langford.
Langford was chosen as executive director of the institute in October after Dr. Greg Simone took over as head of WellStar last year. Since then, she has worked to relaunch it in the mold of Lipson's original vision.
When Lipson announced the creation of the institute alongside one of its board members, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, he explained that it would be a collaborative effort between business, education and political leaders working to provide solutions for the health problems of approximately 108,000 residents within WellStar's five-county system in Bartow, Cherokee, Cobb, Douglas and Paulding.
"We want to instill a different mindset of 'health,' not 'health care,'" he said at the time.
"The vision has not changed," said Langford, a former nurse. "It is still about improving the health of our community in big ways."
However, Langford said that instead of targeting one health problem, such as its original focus on diabetes, the institute is concentrating overall on healthy living.
"After our dinner meeting the other night, we were approaching it in a very similar way. But we realized that just through healthy living, you can target diseases by diet and exercise and target the main disease problems we're trying to prevent."
Those disease problems which the institute works to prevent include cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer.
It has worked with Publix supermarkets to host health fairs to raise awareness of heart disease and diabetes through health screenings, seminars and exercise demonstrations. The Be Well 101 program was launched with Children's Cardiovascular Medicine to combat childhood diabetes through a six-month educational program for kids ages 7 to 18. And the institute has worked with Cobb County by offering pre- and post-health assessments to residents.
The institute carries out many of its programs through WellStar's Corporate and Community Health division.
"(WellStar's) Corporate and Community Health is very involved with many companies, whether it's going in and doing flu vaccines or lunch-and-learns, it's a very active group," said Langford.
Lunch-and-learn is an effort in which employees of a company or organization are asked to bring in a healthy lunch and the topic of healthy food choices is discussed, said Langford.
Langford said many companies have begun to gain an appreciation for preventive healthcare.
"Before it's been you pay your insurance premium and their employees stay well, and now they realize that with healthcare costs, you have to be more on the prevention side to keep them low," she said.
Recently, the institute launched its Promotora program in which nurses visit churches and other religious institutions to educate Spanish-speaking people about diabetes.
Since the institute's 24-member board of advisers hadn't been together since it was began in 2006, Langford met with each of them a week ago to refocus board members on its mission.
She called it a "re-launch" of the institution.
"I felt it was important to bring them back together and let them know that we are committed to the wellness of the community," she said.
Simone said WellStar is committed to carrying on the goal of his predecessor.
"The WellStar Institute for Better Health has an opportunity to be a change agent in preventive medicine," he said. "As a physician and CEO of a large health care delivery system, which is one of the largest employers in the community, we are at the intersection of prevention versus intervention."
For more information on WellStar's Institute for Better Health, contact (770) 792-7540.
mhoward@mdjonline.com
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Posted Comments
I would rather they quit wasting money on this kind of stuff along with ginving away employee tote bags and other junk and use the savings to lower the cost of Wellstar employees health insurance. They need to treat their employees better. My wife must take a pay cut when she goes on vacation because they refuse to pay her the shift diferential. Nurses for Wellstar need a union badly.