Lakeland Pantry and Howard Young Medical Center partner to provide health screenings
(Woodruff, WI)-Howard Young Medical Center, part of Ascension in collaboration with the Lakeland Pantry, has established a Health Committee to organize and deliver health screenings to participants of the pantry.
“A Medical Mission Health Committee involving pantry and hospital leadership was created to develop a sustainable plan for the delivery of screenings and support services in alignment with our identified community health needs,” said Laurie Oungst, Chief Administrative Officer for Howard Young Medical Center.
Based on county statistics, Vilas and Oneida County have a higher percent of children and adults that are uninsured compared to state average.
“We recognize that lack of insurance can be a barrier to receiving care. In addition, access to healthy food and access to health services were the top two needs identified by low income participants that completed a recent survey as part of our hospital’s Community Health Needs Assessment,” Oungst added.
The committee has developed a plan to provide blood pressure checks and glucose checks to screen those with hypertension and diabetes – two leading chronic diseases in our community.
“We will connect those with screenings out of normal range to follow up care,” explained Jacqui Monge, Howard Young Medical Center Director of Nursing and committee participant. “In addition to screenings, registered dieticians will be present to offer nutrition consults and encourage selection of healthy food choices by providing samples and recipes. “
Roughly 1,300 individuals are served by the Lakeland Pantry each month and many will benefit from health services and resources. The health screenings and educational offerings will be offered three times per month.
“We have been able to advance access to food, clothing and other essential items for our community through the work of our volunteers and our partnership with the Howard Young Foundation,” said Lorna Springate, Director Lakeland Pantry. “We are grateful to the leadership at Howard Young Medical Center for reaching out to offer health services.”
A dedicated space within the pantry has been created to provide the services.
“We were able to transform an unused space within the pantry to provide a private area for care to be delivered. All materials and furnishings were donated by the hospital and members of the hospital facility’s team donated their time to build the room,” added Springate.
“We look forward to growing services over time – based on the needs – but want to begin with a basic set of services that can be consistently delivered. All services will be provided on a volunteer basis and free of charge to those seeking care. It is a way we can live our Mission and bring our Value of Service outside the walls of the hospital to the community we serve,” said Oungst.
Leaders from the Lakeland Pantry and Howard Young Medical Center marked the formal launch of the program on Tuesday, April 16 with a Ribbon Cutting. Lakeland Pantry is located at 1707 US Highway 51 in Woodruff. For more information, please call 715.358.2222.
About Ascension Wisconsin
Ascension Wisconsin (ascension.org/wisconsin) operates 24 hospital campuses, more than 100 related healthcare facilities and employs more than 1,300 primary and specialty care clinicians from Racine to Eagle River. Serving Wisconsin since 1848, Ascension is a faith-based healthcare organization committed to delivering compassionate, personalized care to all, with special attention to persons living in poverty and those most vulnerable. As such, Ascension Wisconsin provided more than $292 million in community benefit, including care of persons living in poverty in Fiscal Year 2018. Ascension is one of the leading non-profit and Catholic health system in the U.S. operating 2,600 sites of care – including 151 hospitals and more than 50 senior living facilities – in 21 states and the District of Columbia.
