Health Coalition Conducts Monthly Meeting

Kimber Knight

Members of the Bradley County Health Coalition met for their monthly meeting in the conference room of the Brunson Medical Complex at noon April 11th.  Two presentations were made for the benefit of the members.

Aron Pagan, Beneficiary Relations Educator, for AFMC, a not for profit organization, spoke about her efforts to reach people who need to be enrolled of Medicaid benefits or need help navigating the Medicaid program.  The organization holds education sessions at various locations throughout Arkansas to provide assistance.  A session is planned for Bradley County April 25th from 9-11 am to be conducted at Bradley County Medical Center.  To make an appointment, call 1855-275-5948 or visit afmc.org/ARBeneEd.

Also addressing the coalition was Kimber Knight.  she provided information on county health rankings in Arkansas.  The comprehensive survey gathered information on health factors and health outcomes.  Bradley county ranked 61 out of 75 counties relating to health factors and 67 out of 75 for health outcomes.  While not the best, it was a considerable improvement over the previous year.  The report was complied by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Published online at countyhealthrankings.org, the rankings help counties understand what influences how healthy residents are and how long they will live.  They look at a variety of measures that affect the future health of communities, such as high school graduation rates, access to healthy foods, rates of smoking, obesity and teen births.  Bradley County has improved.

The next Bradley County Coalition meeting is set for May 9th at noon at the Brunson complex.  Individuals and organizations are welcome to take part and help make our community more healthy and productive.