Daniel Prince
Mar 16, 2023
Group wants to place community health worker at OBGYN office
In other news from Tuesday’s Union County Council meeting, Robert Gossett was honored for 10 years of service to the county with the Union County Detention Center.
Brooke Henderson and Erica Rhodes made a presentation on behalf of the group, Live Healthy Union. They presented council members with their what they called the CHIP plan for Union County—Comprehensive Health Improvement Plan. It is a three-year plan complete with standards and objectives to meet the plan. The Access to Health committee has a Spanish-speaking community health worker to engage with those in the county’s Spanish-speaking population and serve their needs. A Duke endowment will allow them to have a community health worker to place in the Union OBGYN office of Dr. Natashia Jeter to address the needs of her patients and their families and to connect them with needed services. Katie Henderson, Chief Nursing Officer at Union Medical Center, heads the Behavioral Health Committee. She is working on a substance abuse video directed towards the teens in Union County. She is also doing some training in mental health first aid for educational staff and leadership throughout the county. Under the chronic health conditions category, she said a local church, Bethany AME, has stepped up. She said they realized the community they serve is a food desert, so the youth of the church developed a garden with a walking trail, and they are working hard to improve the community. The Chronic Health Committee will be applying for a $250,000 grant to make health improvements in the community.
Supervisor Phillip Russell provided WBCU News with his Supervisor’s report for the month, and we will go over that in tomorrow’s newscast. Council held an executive session to talk about a contractual matter, and no action was taken afterward.