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Strengthening Community Health Programs

Thomas Anderson, D.O. (’83), chair of the OU-HCOM capital campaign committee, explained that while the Osteopathic Heritage Foundations, Brentwood Foundation, OhioHealth and Cleveland Clinic contributions are unprecedented, “It is up to us, the friends of the college, to support and develop these initiatives.”

It is exactly this sentiment that led Dr. Anderson to lend financial support for the first mobile health clinics back in the 1990’s. “I needed to give something back,” Dr. Anderson recalled. Marked by high poverty and unemployment rates, the health and well being of the surrounding Appalachian community has long been an integral part of the college’s mission. That first mobile clinic ignited the growth of the college’s outreach effort to the rural 21-county southeastern Ohio region and over time grew into today’s Community Health Programs.

The funds raised from the capital campaign will provide a permanent endowment to sustain Community Health Programs. Through annual funding, these programs will provide quality care for those who lack health care alternatives and important educational experiences for physicians-in-training concerning compassionate care and the needs of underinsured patients.

The breast and cervical screening program is one such outreach program that will be sustained through an endowment. In its 17th year, the program provides free breast health education, mammograms and cervical cancer screenings to thousands of women in the area. Kathy Brooks, chief financial officer at OU-HCOM for more than 25 years, was compelled by this program’s impact on the community to donate to the breast and cervical screening fund.

Supporting Faculty and Research