Community Health Fair To Celebrate First Choice Fit® Playground Build in Spartanburg
November 17, 2014
Area providers to bring health screenings and information to Southside community
SPARTANBURG, SC – First Choice by Select Health of South Carolina will present a community health fair from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21, inside the C.C. Woodson Community Center, located at 210 Bomar Avenue in Spartanburg. Select Health offers First Choice, the oldest and largest Medicaid health plan in the state, and is part of the AmeriHealth Caritas Family of Companies.
The public is invited to receive free health screenings and information from local health care providers. At the same time, volunteers from a community coalition including the AmeriHealth Caritas Partnership, Select Health, the City of Spartanburg and the Marcus Lattimore Foundation will construct a First Choice Fit® playground adjacent to the facility.
“This community health fair is a wonderful complement to our playground build,” said Cindy Helling, executive director of Select Health. “Adults can check on their own health and take comfort knowing their children and grandchildren will soon have a fun place to stay active and get fit when their new playground opens later that day.”
Health screenings will include blood sugar/glucose, height, weight, body mass index and vision screenings, and diabetes education will be offered. Participating health care providers and organizations include Alva S. Pack III, OD and Associates, Family Connection/Project Breathe Easy, First Choice Medicaid health plan, Piedmont Community Action and ReGenesis Health Care. Organizations interested in joining the event can contact Marguerite Nivens, Select Health community event coordinator, at (864) 329-4743 or [email protected].
The playground build will be completed in one day. Children and families are invited to use the new amenities and join in the public celebration to begin immediately following a 4 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“We’re excited to host this important event at the C.C. Woodson Community Center,” said Mitch Kennedy, director of community services at the City of Spartanburg. “We’re fortunate to be working with partners who truly care about the health and well-being of the citizens of Spartanburg.”
Founded in 2011 by AmeriHealth Caritas as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, AmeriHealth Caritas Partnership works in collaboration with AmeriHealth Caritas health plans to identify communities where high percentages of children are living at or below the poverty level and are lacking safe play areas. Then, in conjunction with community partners and sponsors, they build a playground in one day.
“This is the first health fair to be held in conjunction with one of our playground builds,” said Maria Pajil Battle, president of AmeriHealth Caritas Partnership. “It perfectly aligns with our mission to promote and advance health equity by conducting health promotion and prevention programs that address the prevalence of diseases in underserved populations.”
This will be AmeriHealth Caritas Partnership’s third playground build in S.C. In 2012, AmeriHealth Caritas Partnership and Select Health led a successful effort to build a playground, fitness area and refurbished recreational facilities including a basketball court at Pinehurst Park in Columbia. In 2013, AmeriHealth Caritas Partnership and Select Health led a community effort to build a playground adjacent to the Chicora Place Community Garden in North Charleston.
For more information about Select Health, visit www.selecthealthofsc.com. To learn more about the AmeriHealth Caritas Partnership, visit www.amerihealthcaritaspartnership.org. Explore the City of Spartanburg at www.cityofspartanburg.org. The Marcus Lattimore Foundation has a new website at www.marcuslattimorefoundation.com. Additional playground sponsors include Grand Ideas of Charleston, the Spartanburg County Foundation, and Massey Enterprises, Inc. of Greenville.
About Select Health
Incorporated in 1995, Select Health was licensed as a Health Maintenance Organization by the South Carolina Department of Insurance in 1996. Later that year, the company contracted with the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to offer First Choice, which is now the state’s oldest and largest health plan for Healthy Connections, South Carolina’s Medicaid program. First Choice serves members in all 46 counties statewide.
Select Health is dedicated to providing access to high quality health care. First Choice by Select Health of South Carolina is the highest nationally ranked health plan for South Carolina Healthy Connections at #61 on the National Committee of Quality Assurance’s (NCQA’s) Medicaid Health Insurance Plan Rankings 2013-2014. (Note: The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS) uses other criteria for evaluating and ranking the performance of health plans serving Medicaid beneficiaries. To view these results, please visit www.scdhhs.gov/reports-statistics). Select Health also holds NCQA’s Multicultural Health Care Distinction.
Select Health is a wholly-owned member of the AmeriHealth Caritas Family of Companies.
