Hill Country Memorial Hospital – Salud for You

Overview

Launched in 2013, the Salud For You Program (SFY) provides comprehensive health screening and wellness education for community residents by partnering with local businesses who are not able to offer health insurance to their employees, or whose employees are unable to afford the insurance offered to them due to cost. The SFY Program provides comprehensive health screenings and behavioral dietary counseling, and includes a one-year membership to the HCM Wellness Center. The program has been successful in meeting participation goals by taking most services outside the walls of the hospital to the worksite, overcoming some traditional access hurdles found in the community.

Impact

Since its inception, SFY met its goal of providing comprehensive health screening to more than 300 individuals, or 16 percent of the uninsured population, in the immediate community. The behavioral dietary counseling is an important part of the program. Offering this service with a one-year membership to the Wellness Center is a positive way to promote healthy lifestyle changes. In fact, as of September 2015, 69 percent of program participants have joined the HCM Wellness Center, enabling additional access to healthy lifestyle resources and education opportunities, including diet/nutrition, diabetes counseling, and exercise classes.

Lessons Learned

Early on in the SFY program, it was evident that flexibility and customization would be important program attributes to employers to encourage participation. It is very difficult for employees to leave their worksite for medical services or follow-up appointments. Therefore, it was determined that it would be most effective to offer these services at the worksite itself. Another lesson learned was the need for having bilingual services. A partnership was developed with the bilingual diabetes educator from the Good Samaritan Center (GSC). The GSC bilingual diabetes educator then worked with the SFY dietician to develop a solution to overcome the communication barrier with Spanish-speaking participants.

Future Goals

SFY plans to expand the partnership with GSC and enable improved access to clients that were eligible for SFY but were unable to participate because their employer chose not to. SFY worked with the GSC as if it were another employer, and used this clinic’s resources to screen additional participants, thereby reaching a wider and more diverse audience.

Contact: Cuyler Smith
Database Analyst & Researcher
Telephone: 830-997-1297
Email: cuylersmith@hillcountrymemorial.org