Pee Dee Regional HPFP Meeting
The session, “Strengthening the Pipeline: Supporting the Health Care Workforce and Improving Access to Care,” was held in Florence and focused on the current state of the health care workforce in the PeeDee region. Policymakers heard from experts about health care workforce trends, existing efforts to support the workforce and increase the availability of services available to their constituents and additional efforts that can be made to support clinical and non-clinical providers.
During the event, attendees heard from Katie Gaul of South Carolina’s Area Health Education Consortium Office for Healthcare Workforce, CareSouth Chief Executive Officer Ann Lewis and a panel of experts who discussed funding models to sustain community health workers and other community based professional, innovative apprenticeship programs, the return on investment of workforce initiatives and policy opportunities for the PeeDee region to better support the health care workforce and increase access to care. The panel featured:
- Charity Gerald, RN, BSN, MBA-HM, director of recruiting and workforce development, McLeod Health
- Julie Smithwick, MSW, CHW, executive director, Center for Community Health Alignment, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina
- LeeAnn Weaver-Hayes, CWDP, workforce development manager, Medical University of South Carolina Health, Jean and Hugh K. Leatherman Behavioral Care Pavilion
