Wellstar is committed to enhancing the health and well-being of every person we serve, every time. While our clinical teams provide expert care at our facilities, our community outreach teams meet our neighbors where they are—in the communities where we live and work.
Wellstar Community Health and Wellstar Center for Health Equity (WCHE) bring PeopleCare everywhere, and the teams have now reached the impressive milestone of over 100,000 engagements with local households to help meet their health needs. WCHE, established in 2019, addresses social determinants of health. These are factors that affect someone’s well-being, such as access to food, housing and transportation.
“This work is driven by Wellstar team members who see beyond Wellstar’s walls,” said Elise Lockamy-Kassim, Wellstar assistant vice president for community health and WCHE.
A patient’s ZIP code, or the area where they live, is the top determinant of their health outcomes, according to Dr. Earl Stewart, Wellstar primary care physician and the health system’s medical director of health equity.
“Do people have access to affordable healthy food options, or in their ZIP code, is it only fast food? Do they have green space where they can walk and exercise? Do they have reasonable access to sustainable employment?” Dr. Stewart said. “In their ZIP code, are we dealing with environmental justice issues where there may be a fossil fuel burning power plant just down the street and there's contamination in their water or food supply?”
WCHE works to ensure everyone can live to their fullest potential and access the care they need, no matter where they’re located.
Mobilizing to meet community needs
Shortly after the inception of WCHE, the team faced the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic. By leveraging relationships with internal partners at Wellstar as well as external community organizations, the team expanded access to vital care and health information.
Programs included walk-up COVID-19 family testing and vaccination, distribution of masks and safety kits to at-risk communities, and dissemination of Spanish-language educational information. Teams administered more than 10,000 COVID-19 vaccines.
Through the Wellstar Congregational Health Network—our partnership with local faith communities—Wellstar made testing, vaccines and accurate health information more accessible to the people we serve by hosting events at places of worship and virtual town halls in collaboration with faith communities.
WCHE has continued partnerships with communities of worship to expand access to behavioral health resources. Wellstar’s Soul Support program, which also uses the Congregational Health Network, provides congregations with behavioral health education and resources like the Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) suicide prevention workshop. This workshop trains congregation leaders and members to recognize signs of suicide and navigate mental health emergencies. Soul Support has trained more than 500 people to respond to mental health concerns.
Addressing food insecurity
Food insecurity and poor nutrition may lead to a higher risk of developing chronic diseases like obesity, hypertension and diabetes. To address this inequity, WCHE has several initiatives to expand access to healthy foods.
“You can tell a patient, 'You have to do better with your diabetes and eat healthy,' but if they don't have access to affordable healthy food options, they're going to get what they can afford,” Dr. Stewart said.
Wellstar Mobile Markets, in partnership with Goodr, bring fresh produce, meat, shelf-stable items, milk and other beverages to partner sites in the communities Wellstar serves. At the mobile markets, a benefit specialist from Wholesome Wave Georgia, another nonprofit increasing access to healthy foods, helps connect families with additional resources.
The Food as Medicine program, a collaboration with Feeding the Valley Food Bank, is another program combating food insecurity. Primary care patients in the LaGrange area are screened for food insecurity concerns, then if needed, connected with a meal program tailored to their health needs. Participants receive 10 healthy, prepared meals each week for 90 days. They also gain access to Cooking Matters classes held at Wellstar West Georgia’s Enoch Callaway Cancer Center, where they can learn to shop for and cook healthy meals on a budget.
Connecting people with care
While Wellstar provides comprehensive care at its own facilities, we also know the power in partnership. By teaming with other community clinics and nonprofits, we can have a greater impact and reach more people across our service area. Partner clinics within the Wellstar Community Clinic Network receive a variety of benefits from Wellstar partnership, including resource advocacy, reduced-cost lab and imaging services for patients, and community benefit programs.
“We aim to connect individuals—whether they’re insured or not—with a trusted healthcare provider, which may be a community clinic that is in partnership with Wellstar,” Lockamy-Kassim said.
WCHE is also expanding access to telehealth services so people can get care wherever they are. A partnership between Wellstar, Family Life Restoration Center in Mableton and Giving Health, a Georgia-based telemedicine provider, provides 24/7 access to primary care clinicians and mental health counselors. Over one year as a participant in Wellstar’s Community Transformation Program, Giving Health enrolled over 600 new patients, conducted over 850 telehealth visits and addressed over 250 social determinants of health needs through referrals. More than 450 patients reported accessing care they would have simply gone without had a telehealth option not been available.
WCHE has also facilitated more than 2,500 community-based cancer screenings. One example of these efforts is the ColoCare Connect Program, which aims to improve access to colorectal cancer education and screenings by providing fecal immunochemical tests to community clinics serving high-risk populations.
Through additional partnerships with Wellstar Cancer Care and Wellstar Gastroenterology, WCHE also presented the Nourish to Flourish series to further educate community members about screenings. Participants walked away with educational resources, fresh groceries and a slow cooker to promote healthy eating habits at home.
Serving as a national model
Live to the Beat. Powered by Wellstar. is an initiative of WCHE and Wellstar’s cardiovascular care team, in collaboration with the American Heart Association, the CDC Foundation and Million Hearts. Participants meet monthly with a Wellstar Community Health team member to have their blood pressure checked and discuss ways to keep their heart healthy, such as proper nutrition, exercise and caring for mental health.
Wellstar’s partners in the initiative are now looking at ways to bring the program to other communities nationwide to expand access to heart care and education.
“We want WCHE to be not only a beacon for health equity done right in the areas Wellstar serves in the state of Georgia,” Lockamy-Kassim said. “We want our work to be modeled across the U.S. as a way to ensure all people have access to the care they need to live their best life.”
How to get involved or find help
If your organization or congregation is interested in partnering with Wellstar Community Health or WCHE, email [email protected] or [email protected].
To get connected with no-cost or low-cost resources, including food, housing and transit needs, visit wellstar.findhelp.com.
