PBN Health Care Heroes 2024
Advancement in Health Care Prevention: MICHELE CORNWELL
CareLink Inc. lead wellness clinician
What led you to choose health care as your profession? I have always enjoyed helping people. I knew I wanted to make a difference in their lives by helping them when they were most vulnerable.
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role…
Learn More
How have you helped boost the quality of or access to health care? By taking the initiative to get ahead of one’s health and wellness with a focus on preventative care. Between chronic illnesses, some of which can be prevented, and all the injuries with falls, I wanted to take part in helping people get ahead of things before they started to decline. I figured if we could increase awareness about wellness and fall prevention, we could help people get ahead of things before they start to happen. We focused on evidence-based programs to reduce risks for falls, as well as other wellness classes to help older adults prevent falls and increase their overall well-being.
What is the biggest challenge you and your organization are facing this year? The population is aging, and more programs and services are needed to care for this community. If insurance doesn’t cover a service, funding can be challenging and limiting.
What more do you feel the state can do to help further support the health care sector in Rhode Island? Funding for more programs and services to enhance the lives of older adults and adults with disabilities. Some of the things we hear, even with their Title III funding, they do not have the funds to have a program. For example, we have had a couple of senior centers recently that partnered with us on a grant we received to give an evidence-based fall prevention program. After the program was completed, the participants and the centers were very interested, however the centers were unable to continue the program due to not having enough funding.
