COLUMBIA, S.C. (September 24, 2025) – The South Carolina Institute of Medicine and Public Health (IMPH), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to collectively inform policy to improve health and health care, held its third of four Regional Health Policy Fellows Program events on September 23 to educate policymakers and other decision-makers about relevant public health issues.

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

“Recruiting and retaining clinical and non-clinical providers remains a major challenge in South Carolina,” says Maya Pack, MS, MPA, executive director at IMPH. “Without

enough providers, residents face barriers to care that affect health outcomes. Our state is stronger when people can stay healthy and engaged in their communities. Yesterday, we welcomed policymakers from across the Pee Dee to discuss solutions to support the health care workforce.”

The remaining session in this series includes:

• The Upstate: Policymakers will hear from experts about policies to mitigate the ongoing opioid crisis.

The Health Policy Fellows Program is a signature program of IMPH that advances the Institute’s mission to collectively inform policy and improve health and health care in South Carolina. IMPH developed a new version of the program for 2025, the Regional Health Policy Fellows Program, supported by the Commonwealth Fund, a national, private foundation based in New York City that supports independent research on health care issues and makes grants to improve health care practice and policy.

To learn more about IMPH and its Health Policy Fellows Program, visit https://imph.org/.

About IMPH

The South Carolina Institute of Medicine and Public Health (IMPH) is an independent, nonprofit organization working to collectively inform policy to improve health and health care in South Carolina. IMPH provides nonpartisan, evidence-based information to guide policymakers in making impactful health policy decisions. Learn more at imph.org.

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