St. Martin Hospital Celebrates National Rural Health Day

St. Martin Hospital has been recognized by the Louisiana Rural Health Association (LRHA) as the 2018 Outstanding Rural Health Program of the Year. To celebrate National Rural Health Day on November 15, St. Martin Hospital is offering free wellness assessments to 100 local parish residents that day.

St Martin Hospital's Road to Good Health is a free wellness program to provide education and wellness checks to St. Martin Parish School Board faculty and employees. Participants receive a baseline assessment and weekly checks for six weeks to monitor progression. Nurse practitioners, certified dietitians and therapists teach at home exercises, healthy diets and food and nutrition education. This program is offered every spring and fall. "We are so excited about the results of this program for our participants and so proud of this recognition," said Karen Wyble, CEO, St. Martin Hospital. "We look forward to the continuation of improving the quality of healthcare in our community.

This program was created after receiving startling population statistics on the parish. "We discovered through survey research that leading causes of death, like heart disease, are much higher in our parish than the rest of Louisiana," Wyble continued. "We knew further measures needed to be created for preventative care in our community." This patient-delivery care model focuses on care outside of the hospital, aiming to reduce overall health care costs for people in the community.