by Kevin M. Sanders

On Friday, Dec. 3, Community Service Programs, Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine’s regional health-services outreach arm, held its annual recognition breakfast to celebrate its program achievements. The 2004 Recognition Breakfast brought together representatives from dozens of health-care organizations, social service agencies, senior centers and community action organizations that have partnered with CSP over the last year.

For nearly ten years, the work of CSP and its partners has resulted in tens of thousands of immunizations and health screenings, and the disseminated of valuable health education to the underserved and impoverished of Southeastern Ohio. Without the presence of OU-COM in the region, these health-care and prevention services would likely have not been provided.

Kathy Trace, R.N., director of CSP, opened the event by thanking all in attendance for their support and hard work over the past year.

“It is only working with you that we’re able to get our work completed” Trace said. “Over the last year, we have had numerous projects going on, and most of them would not be possible without teamwork.”

OU-COM Dean Jack Brose, D.O., echoed Trace’s thanks and added, “Without you, our community partners, and without you, our volunteer faculty, we would be nothing, we couldn’t exist.

“The medical school wants to turn out a different type of physician than we turned out in the past,” said Brose. “We want people who are absolutely dedicated to the community, who are very active in the community. It is through you that we are able to do that.”

State Representative Jimmy Stewart, the keynote speaker at the breakfast, remarked that the value of Ohio University and OU-COM had been greatly enhanced by the type of partnerships that had been created over the past decade.

“You impact a much greater population than what just the university itself might touch with its faculty, administrators and students,” said Stewart.

In acknowledging the volume of screenings and the many people that are served by the programs, Stewart said, “It is easy for us to look at [the volume of services] and see these people just as numbers.  But, when you catch that person in Kilvert who had prostate cancer through a screening in the mobile clinic – that’s somebody’s father, that’s somebody’s grandfather, that’s somebody’s brother – it has a big impact on a lot of people.”

CSP serves 21 counties in Southeastern Ohio. CSP’s services are funded primarily through external grants from public and private sector donors, including the Ohio Department of Health, Jobs and Family Services and the Columbus Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Among the programs CSP provides are Childhood Immunization Program, the Adult Immunization Program, the Well-Child Program, the Well-Child/Well-Families Program, the Healthy Child Care Ohio Nurse Consultants Program, the Prenatal Health Education Program, AmeriCorps/ComCorps, Bus Driver and Sports Physicals and the Healthy Adult Project. These programs deliver a variety of preventive health and educational services including flu shots, vision screenings, cancer screenings, and health and insurance referral services.

Stewart spoke of the challenges posed to CSP programs and the region due to anticipated state budget cuts in the coming year. In her closing comments, Trace admitted that everyone in the room had had to deal with the challenges of program cuts over the past years.

In answering Stewart’s prediction, Trace said, “Tough times do not last, but tough people do. I feel that the people in this room are tough people, and we will survive.”