How Baptist Improves Community Health Care in the Mid-South
While Baptist strives to provide patients with the best care possible, we also recognize the need for healthy initiatives outside of our hospital doors. Many people may assume that our wide range of resources are only available to patients, but in reality we collaborate with other local organizations to reach out to the community and start conversations about getting and staying well.
Because the areas around our hospitals provide us with so much, giving back is extremely important to us. We do this through philanthropy, seminars, partnerships, and more. For example, each year we host free flu shot events at several of our hospital locations so people can easily go a step further in preventing illness during flu season. Similarly, our Mobile Mammography Unit events allow women to visit us outside of the hospital and get the breast cancer screening they need to stay proactive about their health.
Education and healthy living go hand in hand, so our seminars cover all kinds of topics around disease prevention and treatment. Baptist employees work together with experts in the field to develop information that’s easy to digest for anyone who attends. Many of these events have no cost for attendees and are held at offsite locations like local libraries.
Finally, we also enjoy giving back to the community through volunteer efforts and philanthropy projects. We are proud to be a part of Project Homeless Connect, an incredible program that allows people to pair up one-on-one with homeless individuals and assist them in accessing the resources they need to escape homelessness. Baptist also focuses on providing health care education to people of all ages. In 2015, we partnered with the American Heart Association to help middle-school children learn CPR; worked to help introduce high-school students to health care careers; and worked with Rhodes College to give pre-med students experience working in health care facilities before applying to medical school.
I know that health care reaches beyond the walls of Baptist Memorial hospitals and that the health of the overall community affects the way we all live our lives. I hope you’ll look into the many different seminars, programs, partnerships, volunteer options, and philanthropy opportunities we have available so you can be a part of our effort to improve your health and the health of those in your neighborhood.
Do you have any questions about our commitment to community health care and wellness? Share them in the comments below or send me a tweet at @Jason_M_Little.