The CVS Health® Foundation has officially announced a $1.5 million in new Health Zones funding between Good Samaritan Health Center, Open Hand Atlanta, and Uber Health to scale up access of comprehensive health care services, medically tailored meals, and transportation for patients with chronic diseases.
To understand the significance of this funding, we must acknowledge that diagnosed diabetes costs an estimated $11 billion in Georgia each year, and despite the number of people with diabetes going down, deaths due to heart disease and diabetes across Georgia have steadily risen since 2012.
Against that, CVS Health Foundation would go on to achieve substantial success, and the same was relayed in the impact numbers which the foundation released alongside its new funding. These numbers basically highlighted Health Zone partners’ recent successes over the last six months in Atlanta.
Talk about the given numbers on a slightly deeper level, they inform us on how CVS’ Funding Zones initiative was able to successfully refer 1,277 patients for chronic disease support. Furthermore, 40 participants were referred to medically tailored meals and Open Hand Atlanta’s Cooking Matters classes by Good Samaritan Health Center.
Beyond that, from the 317 diabetic participants, 156 reported to have a second A1c, and 53% demonstrated an improvement (n=82). Moving on, out of the 710 hypertensive participants observed, 632 have had a second BP for analysis. Here, 56% demonstrated an improvement in BP (n=328).
Another detail worth a mention is rooted in how 13.3 percent of participants also reported they skipped their medication in the last 30 days, marking a huge improvement on 36.4% observed at the beginning of the program.
“An individual’s health is influenced by a continuous intersection of factors, such as access to health care, healthy food and transportation,” said Sheryl Burke, Senior Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility and Chief Sustainability Officer at CVS Health®. “By gaining a better understanding of the root causes of these factors with organizations who know the community the best, we are addressing the barriers to improving health outcomes for patients with chronic diseases in Atlanta. Over the last six months, we have already seen the positive impact and look forward to continuing our collaborations.”
Apart from the funding and the impact results, CVS took this opportunity to introduce free health screenings for individuals at Good Samaritan Health Center today through its Project Health initiative. This particular program arrives on the scene with the means to offer free biometric screenings, including blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose level, and body mass index to detect early risks of chronic conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.
These screenings also deliver at your disposal a PHQ-2 assessment to help identify people who require added evaluation for depression. On top of that, individuals can expect an on-site consultation with a nurse practitioner, as well as a whole directory of local health care providers, and resources.
All in all, so far, CVS Health has hosted 25 Project Health events in Atlanta which resulted in 2,363 screenings. For individuals who want to avail it at some point down the line, though, they can access the program at multiple spots across the country, with a full schedule of events available online or through its iPhone or Android app.
Founded in 1963, CVS Health’s rise up the ranks stems from reaching more people and improving the health of communities across America through local presence, and digital channels. The scale of its operations can also he understood once you consider CVS presently has 300,000 dedicated colleagues, including more than 40,000 physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and nurse practitioners.