Tag Archives: outreach

WIC Lowcountry Service on Wheels featured in the Journal of Perinatology 

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Congratulations to DHEC’s Lowcountry WIC Team who recently had an initiative featured in the Journal of Perinatology! 

In 2022, the Lowcountry WIC Service on Wheels (SoW) partnered with the children’s hospital at MUSC in Charleston to offer weekly intake appointments to moms with infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. (NICU). The hospital was selected for a study to evaluate a single center quality improvement (QI) collaborative designed to increase the provision of mother’s own milk (MOM) at discharge to premature infants through evidence-based practices while targeting perinatal health disparities. 

This partnership helped improve health equity and access to hospital-grade pumps, and the collaborative increased the percentage of preterm infants receiving MOM at discharge and reduced the number of mothers who discontinue pumping during the NICU hospitalization. 

According to the article, “to eliminate transportation barriers, the WIC SOW parked at the hospital entrance and functioned as a mobile clinic for the initial WIC appointment for mothers who qualify for services. Services rendered included a monetary benefit card, maternal health screenings and a Medela Symphony® HGP [breast pump]. Before this study, mothers were anecdotally reporting waiting 2–3 weeks after discharge to obtain pumps from WIC at their local offices.” 

Study details and results were published in the December 20, 2023, edition of the Journal of Perinatology. 

The SoW program eliminates transportation barriers for parents, guardians, and caretakers, making it easier for them to receive services. It is a mobile unit that provides full WIC services in convenient locations for families in a shorter time and without sitting in a waiting room.  

To see if the WIC van will be coming near you, visit https://scdhec.gov/health/women-infants-children-wic-nutrition-program/wic-mobile-van-calendars 

Learn more about WIC in South Carolina at scdhec.gov/wic. 

Healthcare Quality Drug Control Team Educates Local Students

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A fun day at school for students at a local elementary school also served as an opportunity for Healthcare Quality’s Bureau of Drug Control to build connections and educate young people.  

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From Peace Corps to DHEC: Highlighting Individuals who continue to serve during Peace Corps Week

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Jerry’ Gibson’s photo from 1964 of the smallpox control team’s vehicle and equipment before departure to the field. He recalls taking a Land Rover, then a bicycle, and finally walking to reach remote villages.

Peace Corps Week is Feb. 27 to March 5, 2022, and it is a chance to celebrate the history of the international service network of volunteers, community members, host country partners, and staff who are driven by the agency’s mission of world peace and friendship.

Some members of Team DHEC who volunteered with the Peace Corps now use what they learned serving abroad to help the residents of South Carolina as a leader and consultant in disease control; a leader in breastfeeding and nutrition; a leader in diversity, equity, and inclusion; and Chief of Staff.

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From Other Blogs: New Nutrient Content Information Now Available Online, How to Stop Spreading Germs, Addressing Antibiotic Resistance

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A collection of health and environmental posts from other governmental blogs.

New Nutrient Content Information Now Online

Have you ever wanted to view food sources of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients in your diet? The National Agricultural Library’s Food and Nutrition Information Center now houses 36 tables of foods according to their nutrient content. The tables are available for vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and macronutrients and are listed in household measure from the highest to lowest in nutrient content. – From U.S. Department of Agriculture’s blog

 

Stop Spreading Germs: Tips for Parents and Kids

It’s something all parents dread – a call from the school nurse telling you that your child is sick. We usually wonder how they got it and how to prevent everyone else in the family from catching it too. Katie Schill, nurse practitioner with Prisma Health Telehealth, offers some tips to share with your children on how to prevent the spread of illnesses. And if you do find yourself with an ill child, when to keep them home from school. – From Flourish, Prisma Health’s blog

 

Urgent Care Collaborating to Address Antibiotic Resistance

Laurel Stoimenoff, PT CHC Chief Executive Officer of the Urgent Care Association (UCA) and its member are concerned about the looming antibiotic resistance crisis. In collaboration with the College of Urgent Care Medicine (CUCM), we have decided to be part of the solution. From Safe Healthcare, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) blog

 

Tandem Health of Sumter Chosen as the 2019 HPV Vaccine is Cancer Prevention Champion for Preventing HPV Cancers in South Carolina

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HPV is Cancer Prevention Champion, an award created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI), and the American Cancer Society (ACS), recognizes clinicians, clinics, practices, groups and health systems that offer exceptional HPV vaccination among adolescents in their community. This award honors one Champion in each state as well as Champions from the eight United States territories and District of Columbia. Tandem Health of Sumter is South Carolina’s winner for 2019.

Tandem Health is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) and accredited patient-centered medical home (PCMH) that provides comprehensive, personalized healthcare services regardless of the patient’s ability to pay. In January 2019, Tandem Health joined the South Carolina Primary Health Care Association and American Cancer Society as a member system of the South Carolina HPV Cancer Free Learning Collaborative. Tandem has served as a peer mentor for the additional seven FQHC member systems, sharing examples of the implemented evidence-based strategies and quality improvement processes. Because of these efforts, Tandem Health has gone from a 39% HPV vaccine series completion rate among adolescent patients at January 1, 2019 to a 78% completion rate by the end of August 2019.

Tandem Health is dedicated to improving the health of our boys and girls in South Carolina. DHEC is proud and honored to congratulate Tandem Health on this well-deserved award.

Receiving the HPV vaccine is important because it protects against cancers caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. HPV is a very common virus; nearly 79 million people are currently infected in the United States. Every year in the United States, nearly 35,000 women and men are estimated to be diagnosed with a cancer caused by HPV infection. HPV vaccination could prevent more than 90% of these cancers—more than 32,000 cases every year—from ever developing. Both boys and girls should get two doses of the HPV vaccine series when they are 11 or 12 years old. The HPV vaccine series can be started as early as age 9. HPV vaccine is one of 4 vaccines teens should get when they are age 11 or 12.  All teens also need a Tdap (whooping cough) booster, meningitis vaccine, and a yearly flu vaccine.

To read Tandem Health’s profile on the CDC’s website, and to learn more about HPV Vaccine is Cancer Prevention Champion Award program, please visit https://www.cdc.gov/hpv/champions/2019-winners.html#sc .