The Intersection Between Education and Health

by Guest | Sep 6, 2019 | Being Well

“It is widely recognized that education influences health outcomes and community well-being.” So begins the introductory statement from a recent National Academy of Sciences workshop linking school success with improvements in public health. As our kids head back to school, it is important to remember that education is not just for young children and teens. Lifelong learning and continuing education are tied to better health and quality of life at every age. And, it doesn’t require a four-year degree to experience the benefits of continued learning.
We are very fortunate to have Tillamook Bay Community College right here in Tillamook County, providing affordable, accessible continuing education opportunities in fields that are relevant to our local economy. In collaboration with TBCC, we are sharing the following message from TBCC President, Dr. Ross Tomlin, to highlight these amazing, local opportunities for personal and professional development. If you, or someone you know, are ready to take the next step on your wellness journey, consider a visit to TBCC to explore how they can help you achieve your goals.
Reprinted with permission from the TBCC 2019 Fall Schedule of Classes
All of us here at the college are excited for the upcoming fall activities, and to have students back on campus. TBCC will have a lot of new program opportunities this year, including our new Welding program. This includes a full degree and certificate. There are also new Associate of Science degree programs in Agriculture, Animal Science and Natural Resources that join the AS degree program in Forestry which began last year. These degrees can prepare you to transfer to Oregon State University in their related Bachelor of Science degree programs. There is also a new certificate in Office Supervision within our online Business program, and a new Occupational Skills Training certificate with the Associate of General Science degree program. For any of these programs, reach out to our outstanding group of advisors located in Student Services. They can provide guidance on how to sign up for courses in any of the programs and develop a Career Education Plan that can help you achieve a degree on your schedule.
We are starting our third year of the Career-to-Career Scholarship program that focuses on people in Tillamook County that have been out of high school or have not taken college classes for at least 5 years but want to attend college. We had our first eight Career-to-Career graduates this past June and they all did very well; several are going on to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree. If you think you might be qualified, please check in with student services to apply. In addition, we will be offering several other scholarships using our new online platform. Please take advantage of these opportunities to get some resources to help you with college costs. There is a lot of money available to help you get the education you need to get a good paying career. You just need to seek it out by talking to our knowledgeable staff.
TBCC is joining a statewide community college movement called Guided Pathways. This will help us develop even better ways to help students get on a pathway toward a career, help them stay on the pathway and achieve a completion, whether that is a certificate or Career Technical degree in order to get a good job right out of TBCC, or to transfer on to a university for a Bachelor’s Degree. We are looking forward to enhancing these services to students over the coming year. Fall Term registration is open now through September 22^nd and classes start on September 23^rd.
For more local health and wellness information, follow Tillamook County Wellness on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or visit us at tillamookcountyhealthmatters.org.
 

Celebrating America’s Health Centers: Rooted in Communities

by Guest | Jul 31, 2019 | Being Well

By Tara Stevens, Health Program Manager, TCCHC
August 4-7^th marks National Health Center Week 2019. Tillamook County Community Health Centers (TCCHC) joins the more than 10,00 locally run community health centers across the nation in celebrating this week to raise awareness about the missions, accomplishments and ways health centers are providing affordable health care.
Community Health centers (also called Federally Qualified Health Centers or FQHC’s) are independent, non-profit, non-governmental health care organizations that are defined by 4 key components:

• Open to everyone, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay and charge for services on a sliding fee scale
• Provide high quality, culturally competent and comprehensive services
• Located in medically underserved areas
• Operate under the direction of a patient-majority governing board

This year’s theme of “Rooted in Community” highlights how health centers are at the forefront of a nationwide shift in addressing environmental and social factors as an integral part of primary care, reaching beyond the walls of conventional medicine to address the factors that may cause sickness, such as lack of nutrition, mental illness, homelessness and substance use disorders.  Community Health Centers’ success in managing chronic disease in medically vulnerable communities has helped reduce health care costs for American taxpayers. A few highlights of health center accomplishments include:

• Serve as the health care home for more than 28 million patients in over 11,000 communities across the country;
• Reduce health care costs and produce savings – on average, health centers save 24% per Medicaid patient when compared to other providers;
• Integrate critical medical and social services such as oral health, mental health, substance abuse, case management, and translation under one roof;
• Employ over 220,000 people and generate at least $54.6 billion in total economic activity in some of the nation’s most distressed communities;
• Provide care to 1.4 million homeless patients and more than 350,000 veterans.

TCCHC provides primary health care services to community members of all ages in multiple locations throughout the county. They also offer preventative care services, such as immunizations and disease screenings, dental care from local providers at an affordable cost, and offer expanded care through their in-house registered dietitian and behavioral health providers. TCCHC also provides public health services that include the supplemental nutrition program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), home visits, tobacco prevention and education, and restaurant, food and water inspections.
TCCHC is proud to announce the arrival of the new mobile community health center. This mobile clinic will provide expanded access for community members to dental, physical and behavioral health care.  Please join us in welcoming our newest team member and celebrating National Health Center Week at the Ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday, August 7th, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Tillamook Bay Community College, 4301 Third Street, Tillamook.
For more information about national health center week, visit healthcenterweek.org. For more information about TCCHC services, visit tillamookchc.org or call 503-842-3900.
TCCHC is the backbone agency for the Tillamook County Wellness coalition. For more local health and wellness information, visit tillamookcountyhealthmatters.org or follow Tillamook County Wellness on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
 

Tillamook County Wellness Receives Community Health Improvement Grant

by Michelle | Jul 17, 2019 | Being Well

Tillamook County Community Health Centers, our local public health authority and backbone for Tillamook County Wellness, has been awarded a Sustainable Relationships for Community Health (SRCH) grant from the Oregon Health Authority (OHA). The one-year grant will provide added staff capacity and technical assistance to address chronic disease prevention and management in Tillamook County. Funds from the grant will be used to hire a coordinator who will manage the project in conjunction with the Tillamook County Wellness Health Screening committee.

The OHA SRCH initiative is very aligned to the mission of Tillamook County Wellness, a collective of community partner organizations working together to reduce chronic disease rates, especially type 2 diabetes, by addressing the Social Determinants of Health. SRCH funds are intended to foster collaboration, reduce health disparities and healthcare costs and improve population health outcomes. This includes optimization of community and clinic-based health screenings, program referrals and reimbursement pathways.

Local healthcare partners, including the Tillamook County Community Health Centers (TCCHC), Adventist Health – Tillamook, Columbia Pacific CCO and Rinehart Clinic each play a key role in the Tillamook County Wellness Health Screening committee, with representatives from each organization serving on a core leadership team charged with fulfilling the grant requirements. Additionally, several community-based organizations such as the YMCA, NCRD, OSU Extension and Northwest Senior & Disability Services, among others, will participate in the project.

Together, committee members will:

• Assess existing health screening practices in clinical as well as community-based settings, including workplaces.
• Identify current chronic disease prevention and self-management programs and services to which people are being referred.
• Co-design recommendations for ways to modify or enhance screening and referral practices.
• Generate agreements for implementing improvements to systems processes and program access.
• Track and analyze screening, referral and program participation data to determine impact on health outcomes and identify areas for improvement.
• Develop recommendations for supporting programs and processes that are most effective for reducing chronic disease rates and improving individual health.

“With 90% of all healthcare costs being spent on the treatment of chronic and mental health conditions, it is imperative that we connect people with the resources they need to get and stay healthy,” states Marlene Putman, Tillamook County Public Health Administrator and Tillamook Community Health Centers Director. “There are so many great programs already in place here – the Diabetes Prevention Program, CHIP, cooking classes and fitness programs through the YMCA, NCRD and OSU Extension. We know these programs work. We have data that shows how people who take advantage of these programs improve their health. We just need to be more intentional about how we connect people, programs and processes so that everyone wins.” Putman adds that increasing access to programs by reducing cost and transportation barriers are among the strategies being explored. One of the goals of the project is to better understand the factors that lead to increased program participation and adherence, as well as where people are experiencing barriers. These considerations can then be built into the design of community and clinic-based support networks to optimize system workflows, program delivery and population health outcomes.

To learn more, visit at tillamookcountyhealthmatters.org or follow Tillamook County Wellness on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

KTIL’s Shaena Peterson Finds Freedom from Weighty Problem

by Guest | Jul 11, 2019 | Being Well

By Laura Swanson, Tillamook County Pioneer
“It’s different for us all,” began Shaena Peterson about her transformation, “and it’s a process to figure out what will work for you. It doesn’t happen overnight.”

Shaena interviewing Ginny Gabel, Community Health Educator, Adventist Health – Tillamook

Shaena’s journey started around the Christmas holiday in 2012.  Her hip was out and she weighed 300 pounds.  Yes, really.  “I knew that I had to do something, so I talked with Ginny Gabel, the community health educator at Adventist Health and, in April 2013, I attended their CHIP classes.”  Through her participation in the hospital’s Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP) classes, Peterson lost some weight and saw her cholesterol numbers significantly reduced.  “I started to realize that changing my lifestyle habits made a big difference,” she said. “It wasn’t hard to do, just eating healthier and walking more.  I was learning about my body.”  Other changes included quitting tobacco and a new awareness about food.
In 2014, Peterson continued her journey, trying a reduced calorie meal plan, dropping more weight, but she still struggled with maintaining a comfortable weight.  Then Peterson changed her environment, moving back to the family cabin.  After conversations with family members, Shaena made a decision to change her eating habits. “I purged my pantry, focusing my eating on whole foods while cutting out processed foods, especially those with refined flour and sugar,” said Shaena. She also noted that living alone made it easier to make the change.
In July of 2018, Peterson weighed 250 pounds.  “The weight came off gradually,” she said.  She lost 80 pounds in six months and has continued to maintain her weight at 170 pounds.  Shaena grins, “I feel like this is the weight my body is supposed to be!”
To get started, Shaena used an app to help with tracking her food intake.  “I wasn’t super-strict about some things and I’ve added back some treats, like these grapes,” she says, pulling them out of her bag of snacks.  “I just wasn’t hungry. In fact, I ate more and was more satisfied. And it was so easy to source whole foods locally,” she continued. “Valley Produce out 3^rd Street, Tillamook Meat.  I’m buying higher quality, buying local and my food budget is less.  It doesn’t cost more to eat healthy, it truly doesn’t.”
So what does Shaena’s primary care provider think about all this?  “All my numbers are so good,” she again grins, sharing that her blood pressure is 91 over 62 and her cholesterol remains below 200. Since starting her journey, she has lost over 120 pounds.
Shaena said, “At my heaviest, I would say that I had a bad case of being 60. I’ll be 68 in September and I feel younger than I did in 2012.  It’s about finding out what works for each person and taking advantage of the resources and education that are available. It’s a cliché, but it’s so true ‘we are what we eat.’”
For more information about local health and wellness resources, visit our website www.tillamookcountyhealthmatters.org or follow Tillamook County Wellness on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
 

Tillamook County Earns National Achievement Award for Health

by Guest | Jun 20, 2019 | Being Well