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The nonprofit Canyon Ranch Institute announced Wednesday it will lead a cooperative health program through Curtis V. Cooper Primary Health Care Inc. The effort is underwritten by Charles and Rosalie Morris.
The Canyon Ranch Institute Life Enhancement Program will work with clients at Cooper Health Care at no cost and will be housed at Cooper and the Charles H. Morris Center in Savannah. Cooper provides health services to the uninsured and underinsured in the Savannah area. It currently serves 17,000 patients, said Albert Grandy, Cooper CEO. Grandy told a group gathered for a kick-off presentation Wednesday the center is the largest safety net provider in Chatham County and serves 6,000 hypertension patients, 5,000 diabetics and 12,000 obese clients.
The program’s goal is to address the root causes of chronic disease through lifestyle coaching and change. Participants in the institute program will enroll in a 12-week program with weekly three-hour activities and education designed to change basic habits toward healthy living. The program has been in use in several locations across the United States and data show health improvements over a year’s time, according to Andrew Pleasant, the institute’s senior director for health literacy and research.
Charles and Rosalie Morris told the group their own health education experiences at Canyon Ranch sparked their interest in bringing the initiative to Savannah.
“It opened my eyes about other things I didn’t know,” Charles Morris said. “For me being able to share this journey to wellness with my hometown is a dream come true.”
Guest speaker for the presentation was Dr. Richard H. Carmona, president of Canyon Ranch Institute and former surgeon general of the United States. Canyon Ranch Institute was formed in 1979 to bring the healthy lifestyle education to underserved communities based on the work done at the Canyon Ranch wellness program based in Arizona.
Carmona told the group his experience as surgeon general helped him understand the need for a program for people in at-risk, underserved communities like Savannah.
“You do the best you can to improve the health, safety, and security of people,” he said. “The answer to all these things is in the communities, communities like Savannah.”
He said the program will address change, targeting a “tough population” — poor, less-educated, unemployed, high numbers of single mothers.
“It’s where we see the most disease,” he said. “Of all the chronic needs we see, they are all preventable.”
