Chuck Shelton, Risa Larsen and Marvin Rogers talk healthcare.
Sustaining Essential and Rural Community Healthcare recently brought together 50 people to shine the spotlight on the Mitchell County YMCA and Blue Ridge Partnership for Children’s “Moms and Babies” Project.
The evening was an example of the efforts underway by several different agencies to help the people of Mitchell and Yancey counties to have healthy lifestyles.
Katie Willett, associate executive director for the Williams YMCA Mitchell Branch, described how the concept of a local YMCA has developed over the past four years and talked about the range of programs currently underway through the YMCA Wellness Center.
These include a K-5 after-school program at Gouge and Deyton Elementary Schools, funded through a Federal Community Learning Grant. Also, for children the YMCA collaborates on the Riverside Story Trail Project which offers first-in-the-nation audio stations in English and Spanish.
For adults, there are Parkinson and arthritis management Programs. Rosendo Lopez provides outreach to the Latino community and Stephen Bomar is the new Mitchell County director of healthy living.
While these programs are managed out of the YMCA storefront on Upper Street, in Spruce Pine plans are developing for the building where Pinebridge Colosseum once was. Mayland Community College is the main tenant and the YMCA will be housed on the second and third floors. There are many moving parts and partners in remodeling the building and constructing a new one, which will house two pools, one with a play splash component and the other a six-lane lap pool. Willett showed concept drawings, which included an inside walking track.
The timeline to build the YMCA is fluid. Funding for the project got a jumpstart with a grant from the state and other grants from various foundations.
Willett emphasized that community advocacy and business partnerships are vital.
YMCA memberships are reciprocal across the country, and Medicare and insurance may cover some programs. Some programs are also free.
Katherine Savage, program manager for the Alliance for Children at Blue Ridge Partnership for Children, talked about the survey conducted in 2021-22 to determine how women in Mitchell and Yancey counties wanted to receive support and information about labor, delivery and having children.
The online survey got responses from 176 moms, eight medical providers and 11 non-medical providers such as lactation consultants. Largely missing from the group were teen and substance-abuse moms and there were few Latina moms.
Respondents overwhelmingly revealed that they want local labor and delivery and that they want more information, especially about options for and during labor and caring for the baby and themselves after delivery. The full report is available at blueridgechildren.org/brpfc/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Perinatal-Survey-Assessment-Fall-2021-final-892022.pdf
Savage heads a task force that is seeking ways to address the needs that women expressed in the survey. The group includes medical providers, academics, nonprofit representatives and moms.
They are looking at rural programs across the nation that have been successful at addressing similar needs and funding sources they could tap to meet those needs. Appalachian State is a key player.
Before the year ends, they also expect to meet in person with providers and community stakeholders. SEARCH is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote safe, quality, affordable local healthcare for the people of Mitchell and Yancey counties. The website is searchwnc.org.