New Community Health Improvement Plan coming to Orangeburg, Calhoun, and Bamberg Counties

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - A community health needs assessment is shedding light on health concerns in Orangeburg, Bamberg, and Calhoun Counties. Now leaders with RMC are working to put together a community improvement plan to tackle those health needs. Our Ashley Jones breaks down what was in that assessment.

The 100-page community health needs assessment is put together with information from focus groups and online surveys. The most recent assessment shows the area’s top health concerns are focused on a lack of access.

Lack of access to things like affordable health care, healthy foods, and information on how to live a healthy lifestyle were some of the top health concerns revealed in the community health needs assessment.

“There is some problems with access,” said Dr. Franklin C. Coulter.

Dr. Franklin Coulter has practiced medicine in Orangeburg County for more than 40 years and he says he’s seen up close how a lack of access to affordable health care affects his patients.

“A fair number of patients and I have mostly Medicare and Medicaid patients but there are some that have health insurance too, but the ones that don’t have health insurance frequently don’t come. They may make one or two appointments, but they don’t make the rest of them. So, they’re not very compliant with making appointments or getting their medications,” said Dr. Coulter.

Dr. Coulter says a lack of transportation is also a problem when patients need to get to their appointments. RMC Board of Trustees unanimously approved the assessment’s findings and gave the go-ahead for the development of the plan.

“We had done our most recent one in 2019. So, it’s time to do it again and assess our community again and see where we are and where we need to go,” said Stephanie Harris.

Stephanie Harris is the RMC Director of Grants and heads the Community Improvement Plan. She says in 2019 they made a similar assessment. People had similar concerns then, and because of that some of this year’s improvement plan, has already been implemented.

Harris says, “We expanded our community gardens and our school gardens. So, we can have access to health foods even here on our grounds we have 18 raised beds.”

“Increasing access is a vital importance to the Regional Medical Center and to our community.. So, we’re doing everything we can through the assessment and the health improvement plan to meet the needs of our community,” said Philip Ford with RMC Grants and Sponsored Programs.

Harris says a group within RMC will be formed to develop the plan. The deadline to develop and approve the plan is May 15th.

The community assessment and improvement plan is done every three years and is mandatory under the Affordable Care Act and Internal Revenue Service.

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