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Story Archives: Study outlines priorities for foundation to tackle


Study outlines priorities for foundation to tackle
by Scott Rogers - posted Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 @ 9:23 pmE-mail Story E-mail Story | Print Story Print Story 
The Living Well Foundation over the next several months will decide how best to spend its money to address regional health issues now that its community needs assessment has been completed.

During a Wednesday morning presentation, Bruce Lockwood with Professional Research Consultants of Omaha, Neb., discussed the recently completed needs assessment with foundation members, health-care representatives and the public.

The Nebraska consulting firm has been working on the needs assessment for the past year. The foundation was required to conduct the needs assessment to determine how it would use the proceeds from the sale of Glenwood Regional Medical Center. IASIS Healthcare took ownership of the hospital when the sale was finalized in January 2007.

"It's going to take a while to come up with a community plan that matches the problems we have and also the resources we have," said West Monroe Mayor Dave Norris.

Norris served as chairman of Glenwood hospital before it sold to IASIS. He currently serves as chairman of Living Well Foundation.

"I think our board will probably be leaning towards spending the next several months figuring out what that community plan will look like," Norris said. "That community plan can be revised, but it's supposed to be one that will carry us until the next time this foundation does a needs assessment."

"It's going to take a good deal of time and community involvement … we're going to have to broaden our scope within the community to get more involvement to see how we're going to attack these problems," he said.

The foundation currently has $46.55 in net assets. The foundation originally invested $44 million, which it received from the sale of Glenwood. That money rests in an interest-bearing account. Interest income earned from the account will be used for health care initiatives throughout the region.

For Professional Research Consultants' study, approximately 1,000 residents were called to participate in a 25-minute phone survey. Four hundred residents in Ouachita Parish participated, as well as 600 people in surrounding parishes.

Also, a series of five focus groups with health care professionals and business and community leaders were held during the past year.

Heart disease was ranked as the leading health concern among the participants. It was estimated that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the northeast Louisiana, with 26.5 percent of people dying from the condition.

Cancer was ranked as the second most serious health concern, with 21.7 percent of residents dying from the disease.

Diabetes was third, and stroke was fourth in terms of conditions that cause death in northeast Louisiana.

Death from diabetes is more prominent in northeast Louisiana compared to the United States as a whole, according to the study.

"It's more than twice what we see nationally," Lockwood said.

Approximately 12.9 percent of the region's population died as a result of diabetes, compared to 9.2 percent statewide and 10.2 percent nationally.

The study indicated that a large number of the population has factors that lead to heart disease and stroke, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

"About 90 percent in the community have some risk factor for heart disease or stroke," Lockwood said.

Other areas of concern were weight issues, the lack of nutrition intake by residents and little or no exercise by large segments of the population.

"All of the focus groups are concerned with obesity and the overweight problems," Lockwood said. "They say there's too much eating out and a lack of nutrition in the area."

Mental health issues also were a concern for many participants in the focus groups, which said there are a many insurance providers in the region that do not pay for mental health treatment.

Local residents who wish to review the needs assessment may do so online at www.prceasyview.com. The username is: Livingwell (use capital letters) and the password is: health (lower case).
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