Trinity Hospital Twin City to Receive $375,000 Grant for Fit for Life Program

DENNISON—Trinity Hospital Twin City is one of 70 rural health providers across the nation that will receive a grant to provide direct health care services to their communities. The funding announced on May 2, 2012, by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will be used to meet a broad range of health care needs in rural areas, from health promotion and disease prevention to expanding oral and mental health services.

“Access to quality and affordable health care should not be determined by where you live,” said Secretary Sebelius. “These grants are a continuation of our effort to ensure that rural providers are able to meet the needs of their communities.”

Trinity Hospital Twin City will receive $375,000 over a 3-year project period to provide an innovative multi-agency approach to reduce the number of overweight and obese adults in Tuscarawas, Carroll, Harrison and Holmes Counties, Ohio. The project will allow Trinity Hospital Twin City’s Fit for Life promising practice model to be replicated by a consortium of non-profit agencies to demonstrate the viability of the Fit for Life program as a future best practice model. The consortium includes the following agencies: Carroll County General Health District, Harrison Community Hospital, Holmes County General Health District, and Trinity Hospital Twin City (lead agency). The grant funding is distributed through the U.S. Health & Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the primary federal agency for improving health care access for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable.

“We feel privileged to have this chance to continue the good work of our Fit for Life program,” noted Dr. Tim McKnight, Fit for Life Program Director and a Board Certified Family Practitioner. “I look forward to working with our partner agencies to help them offer Fit for Life in their communities. Together, we have the potential to positively change the lives of many people in our four-county area.”

Thanks to two previous 3-year grants from HRSA totaling $750,000, the Trinity Hospital Twin City Fit for Life outreach grant project has provided training to more than 1,2000 adults through wellness classes designed to help participants learn how to lead healthy lifestyles. In the Fit for Life Program, individual instruction is provided by Dr. McKnight, who is a Board Certified Family Practitioner. The 12-week curriculum emphasizes realistic lifestyle changes, resulting in enhanced levels of health and fitness.

“Rural areas face unique issues and challenges,” said HRSA Administrator Mary Wakefield, Ph.D., R.N. “But that makes them ideal for developing innovative solutions and creating models that can be replicated elsewhere. As rural communities forge these systemic improvements, they set an example for the delivery of high quality health care regardless of where one lives across the United States.”

For more information about Fit for Life, visit www.trinitytwincity.org or call (740) 922-7471.