Seeking The Heart Care Ring

For this week’s “Seeking the Heart” episode, host Don Jonas talks with Shannon Emmanuel and Erin Link with Charlotte’s AHA affiliate to learn more about how they advance AHA’s goals to help all people establish and extend their healthy life experience.  
They discuss many of their local outreach programs, and learn more about how the AHA works to improve quality of life for all. This includes the innovative “Promotores de Salud” program designed to equip leaders in the local Latino/Hispanic community with education on nutrition, CPR, blood pressure management and more with their neighbors. The Harris YMCA and the Camino Community Center piloted this new initiative with great early success over the last year. 

Care Ring’s “Seeking the Heart” podcast started late in 2019 with a simple question: Do we have the heart to care for all of our neighbors?
As life has been turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic, the answer to whether our local health care community has the heart to care for all of our neighbors is an emphatic YES!
The spread of COVID-19 has challenged Care Ring to quickly adapt to the demands of a new reality. Listen to today's episode to hear host Don Jonas talk about how Care Ring, and non-profits all around Charlotte, have risen to meet the demands of a sudden new reality.

In this week’s episode of our “Seeking the Heart” podcast, UNC Charlotte Professor Dr. Mark DeHaven shares ideas on improving community health and establishing a better system of healthcare for all. For Dr. DeHaven, any local effort to improve health must start by first understanding the patterns of relationships that already exist in local neighborhoods.
Dr. DeHaven uses lessons learned from leading community health interventions in places around the world (including China and Mexico) to influence his work in Charlotte, perhaps most prominently through his work with the innovative UCITY Family Zone.
This episode provides an introduction to a strategic community-based approach to improving community health. Along the way you will learn more about why Dr. DeHaven does this work, including his inspiration and what motivates him to serve others.

In many ways Blue Cross of North Carolina is much more than just a health insurance company. Thanks to the work and vision of community leaders like Mike Restaino, Blue Cross of North Carolina is playing a critical role in improving the overall quality of life in North Carolina, not rooted solely in investments in traditional health care clinical environments.
Mike brings many of the lessons he learned to his leadership role with Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina. He believes that if more of us could walk in the shoes of many of our neighbors – many who are facing huge barriers to health and wellness – then we would begin to see more collaboration and a greater willingness to provide opportunities for all of our neighbors to thrive.
 

On this episode of “Seeking the Heart” we take a special look at the shift occurring across America’s health care system as paying for outcomes rather than paying for interventions becomes much more common. What does this shift mean for individuals with limited experience in a “value-based” system, and how can states and communities prepare to maximize the positive impact of this change?
Our guest, Phil Poley with Accenture’s Health and Public Service group, has been helping leaders understand and adapt to changes in health care in our country for two decades. Phil is a leading national expert in this field. He helps state and local governments maximize the effectiveness of their public health programs serving individuals with limited resources.

Running saved Meredith Dolhare’s life.
A survivor of addiction and trauma, Meredith found solace and comfort in running extremely long ultramarathon races. And now, through a program in Charlotte working with homeless men, women and children, Meredith uses running to save hundreds of lives every year. Started in 2012 as a weekly running program for unsheltered neighbors, RunningWorks is today much more than just a running club.
In this episode of Seeking the Heart, host Don Jonas talks to Meredith about how running turned her life around, what the impact of RunningWorks is, and the power of having heart for others.