Alliance Receives $1.2 Million Grant to Improve Community Health
(Columbia, South Carolina – August 4, 2022) A three-year, $1.2 million grant from The Duke Endowment will help the Alliance for a Healthier SC develop a sustainable statewide infrastructure to help hospitals and community partners impact complex health and social issues more effectively.
The Alliance for a Healthier South Carolina is a coalition of more than 50 leaders of diverse organizations dedicated to improving health for all South Carolinians and reducing the economic, racial and geographic disparities that create barriers to healthcare for many people. The South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA) Foundation is the backbone and technical support arm of the Alliance.
“The Alliance and its partners propose developing an aligned data collection process, uniform tools and consistent training programs that will allow partners to easily coordinate strategies, measure results, and ensure that the voices of the most vulnerable populations are captured,” said Monty Robertson, Alliance director.
The concept builds on the coordinated infrastructure used to create the Live Healthy SC State Health Assessment and SC State Health Improvement Plan, released in 2018 by the Alliance and SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (SC DHEC). That plan established measurable goals for improving chronic health challenges such as stroke, obesity, smoking, and substance use.
“Long-term, coordinating community health needs assessments will serve as an additional tool in measuring results and progress toward goals of Live Healthy SC,” Robertson said. “We are indebted to The Duke Endowment for their support of this and many other programs that are significantly impacting the health of people throughout the Carolinas.”
“The Alliance is the ideal organization to lead this effort given their success in convening likeminded partners from across the state and their integral role in the development of the Live Healthy SC plan,” said Dr. Shawn Stinson, Senior Vice President of Healthcare Innovation and Improvement for BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina and the 2022 Chair of the Alliance for a Healthier SC.
The following Alliance members will take an active role in leading the development and implementation of the initiative:
SC DHEC
SCHA and member hospitals
SC Area Health Education Consortium
SC Office of Rural Health
Academic Institutions (Furman University and USC CARES)
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Contact: Monty Robertson
Phone: 803-665-6811
Email: mrobertson@scha.org
About the Alliance for a Healthier South Carolina:
The Alliance is a coalition of more than 50 executive leaders from diverse organizations across the state working together to improve the health and well-being of all South Carolinians. The Alliance places a primary focus on aligning health equity-based goals, metrics and actions across organizations, institutions and agencies at both the state and community levels, and actively connecting both existing and planned equity focused work on the policy and practice fronts.
About The Duke Endowment:
Based in Charlotte and established in 1924 by industrialist and philanthropist James B. Duke, The Duke Endowment is a private foundation that strengthens communities in North Carolina and South Carolina by nurturing children, promoting health, educating minds and enriching spirits. Since its founding, it has distributed more than $4 billion in grants. The Endowment shares a name with Duke University and Duke Energy, but all are separate organizations.