View photos from the 2008 Champions of Health awards banquet
Rodney L. Huey, M.D., Memorial Champion of Oklahoma Health and
Public Service Health Champion:
Mayor Mick Cornett
Mick Cornett, mayor of Oklahoma City, has been named Public Service Health Champion and recipient of the 2008 Rodney L. Huey, M.D., Memorial Champion of Oklahoma Health award, the highest honor of the Champions of Health awards. On Dec. 31, 2007, Cornett announced the launch of the “This City is Going on a Diet” campaign, with the goal of losing one million pounds as a community in an effort to create a healthier city. Cornett has led by example, losing 42 pounds. An interactive Web site, thiscityisgoingonadiet.com, including helpful resources and links, tools, recipes and health-related events was launched, allowing participants to confidentially track their weight loss progress and calculate their body mass index (BMI). More than 20,000 residents have gone online and signed up to participate, collectively losing more than 148,000 pounds. Corporations, civic groups and individuals are encouraged to register online. The home page offers a live counter to indicate the cumulative number of pounds participants have lost. Using local resources, such as the city’s park trails for biking, walking and running, and numerous wellness runs and walks that support local and national charities, Cornett is encouraging Oklahoma City residents to live a healthier lifestyle. Cornett has brought national attention to this effort. He appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show in January and spoke to the national mayor’s conference in June. Other major cities have been inspired to look at launching similar initiatives.
Corporate Health Champion:
Employee Wellness Initiative, Chesapeake Energy Corporation
In 2004, Chesapeake Energy was honored as Corporate Health Champion. Since then, Chesapeake has grown from 1,300 to 7,200 employees. Explosive growth has afforded more opportunities to educate, expand and enhance Chesapeake’s wellness commitment to employees and family members.
Expansion of the fitness center from 50,000 to 71,000 square feet is currently underway, and field service employees are provided fitness membership reimbursement. In addition to group exercise, the fitness center offers unique opportunities throughout the year including adult dance, yoga, meditation, tai chi, a prenatal fitness program and CPR certification.
Participation in the “Living Well” program has grown significantly, resulting in improved personal health, higher exercise participation and increased awareness of health-related issues.The company offers extensive “lunch and learn” classes, healthy break room snacks, an on-site cafeteria with healthy meal choices, a $600 preventive health benefit, annual health screenings, flu shots and weight management programs.
In 2007, Chesapeake opened a full service medical and dental clinic on-site exclusively for Chesapeake employees and family members. Benefits include reduced co-pays, monthly B-12 shots and free skin cancer screenings.
In 2008, Chesapeake partnered with Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett in his “OKC Million” weight loss campaign, challenging employees to lose weight.
Champions of the Uninsured:
Insure Oklahoma
The Oklahoma Health Care Authority, working in partnership with insurance agents, health care providers and other state agencies, implemented Insure Oklahoma, a program that subsidizes the cost of private health insurance premiums for Oklahomans who qualify. Funded in part by a state tax on tobacco products, Insure Oklahoma also receives funding from the federal government that matches each state dollar approximately 2 to 1.
The Employer-Sponsored Insurance (ESI) portion of Insure Oklahoma strives to reduce the number of uninsured in the state by providing payment assistance for health coverage to eligible employees working in small businesses.
Through Insure Oklahoma, 60 percent or more of an individual’s health premiums are paid, leaving 25 percent to be paid by the employer and up to 15 percent by the employee.The program is offered to people with family incomes of up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
These individuals comprise the majority of the uninsured working class.Through Insure Oklahoma, about 13,500 Oklahomans are now covered by health insurance.
The program also includes a helpful resource — the Insure Oklahoma Web site, insureoklahoma.org.
Education and Awareness Champion:
Lawton-Fort Sill Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT) Team
Fifteen high school students comprise the Lawton-Fort Sill Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT) Team, volunteering more than 20 hours a month to tobacco-control work, offering a diligent and diversified approach through interactive community projects, educational training and policy advocacy to improve the health of Oklahomans.
Student volunteers work to raise awareness about tobacco industry practices and the harm of secondhand smoke, while changing attitudes about tobacco and empowering youth to resist tobacco products. SWAT devotes time to create educational workshops on subjects including tobacco marketing, effective advocacy strategies, secondhand smoke and a SWAT 101 presentation with information about tobacco use in Oklahoma. Students rework these trainings to make them more accessible to youth.They have made presentations at statewide conferences, providing a chance to share strategies with other Oklahomans on how to prevent youth tobacco use in their communities.
SWAT youth use community outreach opportunities to raise awareness through events such as the United Way’s “Youth Day of Caring,” local law enforcement’s “Cops and Kids Picnic” and “Tribute Wall Tile Creation Day” at the local mall. Other collaborative events include the “SWAT Legislative Breakfast” and the “Great American Smoke Out Postcard Writing Party.”
SWAT’s work, in collaboration with Comanche County Memorial Hospital, has impacted youth tobacco use. Risk surveys indicate youth tobacco use in the area is declining.Through awareness efforts,SWAT is now focusing on families to encourage reduced exposure to secondhand smoke and improve the health of the community.
Champion of Children’s Health:
Norman Regional Health System
Norman Regional Health System partnered with the Norman Public Schools to financially support the establishment of school health services. While the school district was only able to afford two school nurses and two part-time health assistants, the partnership has made it possible for the school district to provide health services personnel at each school site, increasing access to school nurses, licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and 15 trained health assistants to the district’s more than 13,000 students.
An LPN is at each of the four middle schools and one LPN is at an elementary school that serves multi-handicapped students.The remaining 14 elementary schools and the alternative education school are staffed with trained health assistants and supervised by school nurses.
The hospital and school system agreed to share the costs, with Norman Regional Health System supplying the majority of the funds for the first year.Over the next four years, the expense will gradually shift, and by the fifth year of the agreement, the district and the health system plan to share the program’s cost equally.
This collaboration between the health system and the public school system is a model of community collaboration and a unique and innovative way to solve the difficult problem of funding health services for students in public schools.
Minority Health Champion:
Cherokee Nation Health Partners
The Cherokee Nation and Tahlequah City Hospital joined efforts to fight the growing epidemic of heart disease among Native Americans. Together they formed the Cherokee Health Partners, offering “big city” heart care to the Cherokee population served by the rural 82-bed Tahlequah City Hospital.
Native Americans share a high rate of heart disease, and more than 37 percent of Cherokee County’s residents are Cherokee. Statistics from the Oklahoma State Department of Health show that between 2001 and 2003, the leading cause of death in Cherokee County was heart disease.To address this growing need, the Cherokee Health Partners teamed with cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons to create an entire center specializing in heart care: the Northeast Oklahoma Heart Center.The center targets Native Americans suffering from heart disease in Cherokee County, making strides to improve health and quality of life in this minority population.
In addition to a cardio imaging center and nuclear medicine, rural Tahlequah now offers the Cherokee population a catheterization lab and heart procedures that surpass other heart centers in the nation.The hospital also offers air ambulatory service, cardiovascular and thoracic procedures, a cardiac care unit and cardiac rehabilitation unit.
Since its inception in 2004, Cherokee Health Partners has served more than 3,700 patients.
Champions of Public Health:
The Child Abuse Network, Inc.
The Child Abuse Network (CAN) is an international model of effective community response to reported child abuse, bringing multiple disciplines together in a single safe and comforting environment for children in crisis. CAN enables medical, mental health, investigative and legal professionals to work together under one roof, providing less traumatic investigation while determining if child abuse has occurred.
The child advocacy center is housed with partner agencies including the University of Oklahoma Department of Pediatrics,Tulsa Police Department’s child crisis unit, Oklahoma’s Department of Human Services and the Tulsa County District Attorney’s office.As one of the leading child advocacy units in the country, CAN is able to provide the highest level of compassionate forensic interviewing and medical evaluations.
CAN promotes a multi-disciplinary approach to child abuse investigation and serves as the coordinator for the multiple agencies that interact with children of reported child abuse.The result is a collaborative and non-duplicated interagency approach to investigate abuse and protect children in crisis.This approach allows the team to immediately share information. As a result, investigations are expedited and children can begin their healing sooner.
Health and Medical Media Champion:
Lori Holliday / Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA)
Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA), Oklahoma’s only statewide public television network,works to deliver educational and public television programs to improve the health of Oklahomans. Led by Lori Holliday, director of educational and community outreach, OETA sheds light on issues that impact health.
Airing a series designed to raise awareness and promote involvement for a healthier Oklahoma, OETA addressed the issues of housing, cultural relations, education, jobs, community development, social support systems and tax policies, collectively framing them in the public health documentary series, Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?
Launched on OETA during public health week in April 2008, the series is utilized by the Oklahoma Health Equity Campaign to move health discussions upstream — beyond the individual-focused “repair shop” model of disease and illness to a preventive approach that looks to change the underlying conditions that shape group outcomes.
OETA recognizes the importance of health by airing innovative programming that raises public interest and promotes public involvement to make Oklahoma a healthier place to live. Focusing on issues of housing, transportation, economic development and employment, OETA addresses the issues that impact health in Oklahoma.
Professional Health Care Champion:
Frances Haas, D.O.
Dr. Frances Haas of University of Oklahoma Physicians Tulsa, department of internal medicine, was one of the first physicians to volunteer on a weekly basis at the Bedlam Free Clinic. As a means for the underinsured and uninsured population of northeast Oklahoma to receive medical care, this clinic quickly became the medical home for more than 1,800 patients.
Haas became aware that many of these uninsured patients had an acute need of medical care for HIV and hepatitis C.To address these special health concerns, Haas established an HIV clinic to help identify high risk patients, provide them with testing and coordinate them into care and treatment if needed.The clinic provides all medical care, laboratory testing, counseling, social services and medication assistance.
As the availability of HIV medical care increased in northeastern Oklahoma, Haas turned her expertise to the rising number of hepatitis C patients in the area. She created a Thursday evening hepatitis clinic to address the need for specialty care for this medically marginalized population.
Through routine monitoring of blood work and a treatment regimen of anti-hepatitis medication, Haas is able to greatly increase the quality of life for the victims of this disease. Providing comprehensive and compassionate care, Haas’ commitment continues today as she volunteers five hours a week, treating hepatitis C patients and providing medication at a value of more than $2,000 per patient.
Champion of Senior Health:
Gail Potts / Senior Life Network
Senior Life Network programs promote healthy lifestyles focusing on the benefits of regular exercise and proper nutrition to improve the quality of life of Oklahoma’s seniors. Periodic health screenings, designed to identify health issues in their early stages, also are provided as part of a wellness-centered approach in supporting senior health.
Fourteen exercise classes are offered each week, with bi-monthly educational classes focused on healthy eating. Regular health screenings monitor blood pressure, blood sugar,weight and cholesterol. An on-site physician referral program also is available, along with an information and referral program assisting individuals in locating resources and services within the community.
Additional educational opportunities include access to a computer lab, computer classes for beginners and safe driving classes offered in association with AARP. Health seminars utilizing health professionals from the community regularly address a variety of topics related to health and health care.
Sponsors include the Northwest Oklahoma Osteopathic Foundation and INTEGRIS Bass Baptist Health Center, who each contribute partial operational funds to support programs and staffing. Seniors can purchase a lifetime membership for $10.