Living for Health: A Cardiovascular Community Health Program for the Underserved

Background –Living for Health® is a cardiovascular community health program that screens underserved and uninsured adults to identify those with risk factors for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Participants receive culturally appropriate health coaching and referrals for medical follow up when needed. Those without a primary care practitioner are referred to a Federally Qualified Healthcare Clinic in their area.

Methods – Intervention teams travel throughout South Miami-Dade into designated poverty areas to screen for risk factors including blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose. A baseline lifestyle survey was administered at screening. All participants received clinical results as well as coaching to reduce risk factors. At risk participants were urged to seek treatment and those without a medical home were referred to clinic. They were also followed at 1, 3 and 6 months to determine if lifestyle changes were made.

Results – 4,838 underserved adults were screened. Of those, 2,919 (60%) were found to have risk factors that required referral. Of those referred, 1,521 (52%) were referred to the FQHC; 782 of these were new patients to the clinic. 113 (14%) sought treatment and were successfully connected to a new medical home

Conclusions – One of the most important aspects of the program has been finding medical homes for 113 participants. Preliminary 3-month follow up data have indicated both positive changes in lifestyle and clinical values. Participants will continue to be followed to assess if lifestyle changes are sustained. This program will be rigorously evaluated to determine efficacy and sustainability of outcomes.