July 26, 2022

This paid piece is sponsored by Avera.

Look around you and consider everything that impacts your health and well-being. It’s more than health care.

Social determinants of health comprise all the factors that affect your entire health and quality of life, such as access to healthy foods and clean drinking water, economic stability, education, decent housing, social connections, transportation and more.

“We can give the best care while people are within our facilities, but if we have them return to environments that don’t have access to nutritious foods, transportation or education, we are only solving one piece of the puzzle. Health care can’t do it alone. That’s why we as Avera partner with hundreds of organizations that help us fulfill the Avera mission to have a positive impact in the lives of persons and communities,” said Lindsey Meyers, Avera’s vice president of public relations and communications who also leads the community partnership team.

Transportation: Bridging the gap

“If people don’t have access to transportation, they can’t get to health care facilities for follow-up care, which greatly impacts their health,” Meyers said. “Delayed care leads to more health issues and health expenses over time.”

To address this concern, Avera financially supports several nonprofits in numerous communities that address transportation needs, one of which is Project CAR in Sioux Falls in partnership with Charis Ministry Partners.

Project CAR started in the 1980s with courtesy rides to church but has grown to serve people asking for local transportation to doctor’s appointments, stores, job interviews and more. The Healthy Rides branch of Project CAR is responsible for health-related appointments, with dozens of rides coordinated weekly.

“Every year, the number of rides continues to go up,” said Bill Bradfeldt, Project CAR board member. “When we started Healthy Rides in August 2011, we gave 16 rides. In year 2021, we did 1,800 to Avera alone.”

Project CAR also extends services to high school students enrolled in Avera Academy, an educational program that gives high school seniors who are low income, first-generation Americans or having other challenges the opportunity to explore careers in health care. Every Friday during the school year, Project CAR picks up students and drops them off at an Avera location for their session and then drives them back to their school.

Facing food insecurity

Feeding South Dakota reports that one out of every nine individuals in South Dakota is food insecure, including 16 percent of children.

Avera isn’t in the business of food distribution. Yet food, or lack of it, can cause health issues or contribute to chronic conditions. For example, hunger can impact a person’s mental health through constant worry and anxiety about where the next meal is coming from. Access to healthy foods also impacts chronic conditions such as diabetes.

A Sioux Falls Thrive program is providing food and other resources in the Riverside neighborhood. 

Avera puts its mission into action by supporting efforts such as Feeding South Dakota’s mobile food pantry and Sioux Falls Thrive, which focuses on key needs of school-age children, including charitable food resources to remote neighborhoods.

“I’ve come to understand the most important outcome for children and families in need is to learn that people care about them. One of the ways the community shows that care and concern is through warm, full tummies at dinnertime,” said Michelle Erpenbach, president of Sioux Falls Thrive.

Care for the whole person

Mental health is a critical component of our overall health, and virtually every family is affected by it.

“A mental illness can cost a life in a moment. Suicides continue to rise, and with the COVID pandemic, depression, anxiety and disordered eating have all skyrocketed,” said Thomas Otten, assistant vice president of Avera Behavioral Health Services.

To help address these challenges, Avera partners with organizations such as the Helpline Center and the Sioux Falls School District.

“In the school district, we’re trained to look at the child as a whole person — physical, mental and academics,” said Patti Lake-Torbert, senior counselor with the Sioux Falls School District. “We know if one of those areas is not healthy it is going to hold you back from successes in life.”

That knowledge led to a districtwide conference in partnership with Avera and the Department of Justice to educate teachers and administrators on depression and anxiety.

“This gave us the time to get everyone in the same building and discuss how to talk with students and families, and gave us the same vocabulary on the topic, which is important,” Lake-Torbert said. “Staff know how to identify anxiety in students, know how to help in the classroom and whether it’s something that needs to be referred on.”

“As part of Avera’s mission, we work to improve these key indicators so people have a higher chance for success in making the most out of every opportunity,” said Rachael Sherard, senior vice president for rural health at Avera. “That’s important because the health of a community is only as healthy as its least healthy members.”

To learn more about how Avera works to improve quality of life in our communities, go to Avera.org/Forward.