For more than 125 years, Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health has worked with community partners to assess and address the health needs of the community it serves. “Our hospital’s founding fathers recognized even then that our obligation as a hospital was to go beyond the walls of treating patients who were sick,” said Jan Bergen, president and CEO. “We needed to look at how we can help people stay healthy.”
The health system, which spans into Lancaster, Lebanon, York and Chester Counties, utilizes a specialized model to identify health priorities and then strategically addresses those priorities through community partnerships, programs and services, as well as policies, systems and government changes. In 2018 alone, LG Health committed over $4 million in community programs and outreach to build partnerships and coalitions with organizations that share goals to improve the health and well-being of the community.
“In order to truly impact lives within our community, we need to address the social and physical environments that individuals in our community face,” said Alice Yoder, executive director of Community Health. “Social determinants of health are not mutually exclusive from one another; many of the factors that influence the health of a community are codependent and intricately connected, which has guided our organization’s investment of resources.”
LG Health’s outreach efforts not only have made a proven difference in the lives of its underserved populations, they have also received national attention. In early 2019, LG Health was recognized by the American Hospital Association and Baxter Allegiance Foundation as the 2018 recipient of the Foster G. McGaw Prize for Excellence in Community Service.
“Receiving the Foster G. McGaw Prize is truly a testament to the dedication of our partners throughout the county to making our community a better to live, work and play. We know that community health is a long-term journey, and this national honor continues to inspire us to develop innovative tactics to help Lancaster become one of the healthiest communities in the country,” said Bergen. (Learn more about this prestigious award at https://bit.ly/2G77UTr.
Read below for a glimpse of the many ways LG Health gives back to those in need.
Demonstrating Dedication to Our Residents
For Lancaster City resident Pedro Martinez, his bicycle serves as his primary source of transportation. “When there wasn’t a bike lane, I had a couple of close calls [with cars],” he said.
Now, with dedicated bike lanes throughout the city, thanks in part to the work of LG Health, Martinez feels safer in his daily commute. “A city that pays attention to the small details, like adding bike lanes to roadways, says a lot about its dedication to its residents,” he said.
LG Health regularly partners with Lighten Up Lancaster, a coalition dedicated to combating obesity and promoting healthy lifestyles through community programs to promote the health and wellness needs of the community. One area of focus for the coalition involves supporting safe spaces throughout Lancaster County for walking and biking.
Following a bike and pedestrian safety study, the coalition and the health system not only installed bike lanes for residents like Martinez, they also installed signage for bikes and widened and paved shoulders along heavily traveled roadways.
"We continue to think about building places where people live, work, play, go to school, all in the same area, and then make sure we have the infrastructure so that people feel safe walking and biking," said Brenda Buescher, health promotion specialist.
Talking More About Mental Health
In a recent study, more than a third of adults in Lancaster County shared that their mental health was not good for at least one day in the last month. LG Health has joined forces with Let’s Talk to reduce the stigma that often surrounds mental illness and ensure that resources are available. “It is easier for a patient to share their emotions when their support structures — both personal and medical — are equipped with the proper resources to meet their needs,” Yoder said. “So, through community education and integrated medical support, we hope that individuals facing mental illness have multiple outlets of support.”
Standardized screening tools, administered during primary-care visits, are the most effective way to identify a mental and/or physical health concern, resulting in earlier care, referral and treatment. In addition to the opening last year of Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, LG Health has integrated counselors at LG Health Physicians primary-care practice locations to enhance access and promote earlier identification and treatment of mental health issues, such as depression or anxiety.
Now, through the efforts of Let’s Talk, Lancaster, LG Health and other health care providers across the county have implemented a standardized mental health screening process, which has increased the rate of screening from 30 to 60 percent.
Building Support for the Vulnerable
“For the patients themselves, Care Connections often represents a chance to regain a sense of hope and control over their health and their lives,” said John Wood, MD, LG Health Care Connections medical director.
Care Connections provides medical and behavioral health support, along with additional services, to chronically ill and complex patients, who consume disproportionate amounts of care. “Managing diabetes can be difficult under the best of circumstances. Managing diabetes while also struggling with depression, unemployment, lack of transportation and dysfunctional family relationships is often overwhelming,” Wood said. “Without the coordination and support offered by Care Connections and similar programs, patients often simply drift from one health crisis to the next.”
Since 2011, the Care Connections team, comprised of physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, integrated behavioral health therapists and patient care navigators, has enrolled 475 patients. Their comprehensive approach has helped reduce health care costs while increasing the overall quality of care and long-term success of their patients.
Programs like Care Connections, Lighten Up Lancaster and Let’s Talk, Lancaster are just a few of the many ways LG Health helps drive results within the community. The health system has also partnered with other organizations to lower opioid deaths by increasing access to care and helps new moms raise healthy children through the Nurse-Family Partnership program.
“LG Health has always placed an emphasis on improving the overall health of our community. This continues to be the motivating factor behind the health system’s commitment to leading programs and building strong partnerships that drive long-term results,” Bergen said. “With dozens of community partnerships, LG Health looks to leverage strategic collaboration to improve the overall health of the community, a mission that extends well beyond the walls of our hospitals.”