Spectrum Health’s Core Health Program Receives National Honor

Spectrum Health’s Core Health Program has been named a 2012 Program of Excellence as part of the Hospital Charitable Service Awards, sponsored by Jackson Healthcare, which honors projects demonstrating sustainable community impact.

Core Health, a part of Spectrum Health’s Healthier Communities, was one of 10 nominees selected from a national pool of 191 to receive the honor. Each recipient had to demonstrate excellence in community impact, innovation, collaboration, transferability and leading practice. Award honorees also received a $10,000 grant to continue service to their communities.

“We are thrilled to be honored for the ways Core Health positively impacts our community,” said Erin Inman, director, Spectrum Health Healthier Communities. “Everyone involved with the program is passionate about giving back in a meaningful way and we are proud to be recognized for making a difference in the lives of many.”

Core Health is a free, 12-month program for adults with diabetes or heart failure. It provides one-on-one visits to patients’ homes from a registered nurse and community health worker. Working with their doctors, staff provides education, mentoring and access to community resources to help patients:

Understand their health condition and how to access care
Manage their condition and learn how to work with the health care system
Improve their health through lifestyle changes
Set personal health goals

Hospital Charitable Service Awards was instituted by Jackson Healthcare in 2010 to identify leading community health service programs, share their stories and hold them up as models for others.

To learn more about Healthier Communities and the Core Health Program, visit www.spectrumhealth.org/healthiercommunities.

Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan offering a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, which is comprised of nine hospitals including Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, a state of the art children’s hospital that opened in January 2011, and 140 service sites; the Spectrum Health Medical Group and West Michigan Heart, physician groups totaling more than 700 providers; and Priority Health, a health plan with 600,000 members. Spectrum Health is West Michigan’s largest employer with 19,000 employees. The organization provided $204 million in community benefit during its 2012 fiscal year.