By Susan Shinn

For The Salisbury Post

Registration is now open for a Health Summit, a free community event which takes place 8 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Feb. 12 in the Faith Center of St. John’s Lutheran Church, 200 W. Innes St., in Downtown Salisbury.

The summit is sponsored by the local Community-Centered Health Homes Committee, an initiative of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation. Members include Dari Caldwell, CEO of Novant Health Rowan Medical Center; County Commissioner Judy Klusman; Salisbury Mayor Karen Alexander: Nina Oliver, director of the Rowan County Health Department; Carolyn Byrd, director of senior adult ministry at St. John’s; and Krista Woolly, executive director of the Community Care Clinic.

“Our committee felt like the best way to reach folks are through these half-day events, where people hear about a problem, and then work on strategies to address the issue,” says Woolly, committee chair. “The health of our community means everybody: rich, poor, black, white, young, old. Everyone has a stake in the health of our community, and we have a huge problem in this community regarding poor health.”

Rowan County ranks 76^th out of North Carolina’s 100 counties in health rankings, while Cabarrus County ranks 7^th, according to Woolly. “We do have a higher poverty rate, but we don’t have a great infrastructure. We don’t have safe places to walk.”

To address that, the summit will feature two speakers who are addressing such problems.

Dr. Somava Stout is a founder of the “100 Million Healthier Lives,” a global initiative that seeks to achieve the improvement of community and population health. She is also a clinical instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Richard Joyner is a pastor who founded the Conetoe Family Life Center in eastern North Carolina after losing some 30 parishioners to diabetes, high blood pressure and other health problems. Today, the center manages more than 20 plots of land, including one 25-acre site. More than 80 young volunteers help plant and harvest more than 50,000 pounds of fresh food a year in a location that was formerly known as a food desert.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation provided training for the committee, and funding for this event, Woolly says. “We want to invite the medical community to participate, but also the entire community. Did you know that your doctor affects only 20 percent of your health? The other 80 percent is what you do, or don’t do. I’d like to see people from schools, colleges, public housing — anyone who cares about people being healthy in our community.”

Following the speakers’ presentations, the group will break into groups of eight to come up with two or three strategies to improve public health. Lunch will be provided, and results of group discussions will be shared afterward, along with the charge to move forward in executing these ideas.

With Community-Centered Health Homes, Woolly says, “we are looking at every single person in the community. We don’t just care about your medicines. We care about how many times a week you exercise. Are you taking diabetes education classes if you have diabetes? Are you taking smoking cessation classes if you’re a smoker?”

The Community-Centered Health Homes movement is a model to improve community health by focusing on the community environment, redesigning health care in a way that pays attention what the community environment is like.

“We use 97 percent of health care money for treatment, and only 3 percent for prevention,” Woolly says. “Now, that’s sad.”

To sign up for the Health Summit, contact the Chamber of Commerce at 704-633-4221 or info@rowanchamber.com.

Freelance writer Susan Shinn lives in Salisbury.