Lexington Medical looks to address health needs identified in recent survey

Posted 3/21/23

Thanks to a survey conducted with help from one of the other big hospital systems serving the Midlands, Lexington Medical Center says it has a better understanding of the area it serves.

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Lexington Medical looks to address health needs identified in recent survey

Posted

Thanks to a survey conducted with help from one of the other big hospital systems serving the Midlands, Lexington Medical Center says it has a better understanding of the area it serves.

Last summer, the hospital announced it was conducting a Community Health Needs in partnership with MUSC, which has greatly increased its presence in the Midlands in recent years, along with Alliance for a Healthier SC and the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Thomas Tafel, community outreach manager for Lexington Medical, provided a breakdown of what the hospital learned during the online survey, at the Lexington Chamber’s March 14 Business Over Breakfast meeting.

He said the survey, which gathered more than 1,000 responses, helped the hospital identify ways it can help the community move forward.

“This assessment is about the community,” Tafel said. “It's about you. It's about your neighbors, and it's about how we can best work together to multiply the effect of our initiatives and community and then the goals.”

While 50% of survey takers rated their community’s health as good, 43% rated it as bad, he said.

As far as how the health of those communities can be improved, Tafel detailed that the survey pointed toward access to care, clinical preventive services, mental health services, physical activity and nutrition as areas to focus on, adding that Lexington Medical’s community outreach initiatives directly impact these areas of need.

These initiatives include vaccines, health and biometric screenings, cancer screenings and a smoking cessation program, among others.

According to Tafel, the center has administered more than 135,000 administered COVID-19 vaccines over the last two years and it administered 1,935 flu vaccines last year.

He also said that the smoking cessation program has a 59% quit rate compared to the nation's 20%.

Turning to mental health, Tafel said the survey indicated that shame and embarrassment, the expense, stigma around the issue, and a lack of awareness and community resources are all leading reasons why many don’t seek help.

When it comes to nutrition and physical exercise, the survey asked what barriers the community faced. Tafel shared that the biggest barrier for nutrition in the community is the expense, with 17% of the community saying they are unsure about how to eat healthy.

For a majority of the community, personal choice was the biggest barrier for physical health, Tafel said, but for children, the schedules of their parents/guardians create the most persistent obstacles.

Tafel said the hospital is already working to bridge the gaps in many of these areas of need, providing roughly $4.7 million in the last four years to many nonprofits within the county to increase access to healthcare services for underserved and at-risk populations and bolster existing healthcare initiatives.

He emphasized that the goal of these grants is to fill in gaps and foster innovative programs that create a lasting change.

“Community health is collaborative,” Tafel said. “That is the goal, strengthening and maintaining our partnerships to ensure that we have a healthier community.”

lexington medical center, midlands health needs, columbia hospital

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