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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.”
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