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From left are Jeanne Solis, Chamber of Health Initiative, Carla Vappie, director of behavioral and mental health at Teche Action Clinic, and Rene Stansbury, with the Tobacco Free Living Campaign, along with Dr. Gary Wiltz, CEO, Teche Action Clinic.

'Chambers of Health' initiative seeks to get residents healthy

Dr. Gary Wiltz, CEO of Teche Action Clinic in Franklin, told the St. Mary Parish Council that the state has been ranked 48th to 50th in health care, according to the United Healthcare Foundation for the last 25 years.
“That’s been a very depressing fact to live,” Wiltz said. “Every time that we write grants, we have to give state statistics. And it has pained me for 25 years to lead off Louisiana ranks 48th, 49th, 50th. I have been a part of healthcare reform panel going back to Edwin Edwards, every governor has come into the state and tried to do health care reform…we’ve had great programs and great initiatives and a lot of money has been spent, but it has not improved our ranking.”
Wiltz said that may be because such change has to start at the local level rather than federal and state.
“We came up with this concept of the Chambers of Health,” he said. “We’re going to do it on a parish-by-parish basis. The solution can’t be crafted out of D.C. or Baton Rouge. It has to begin with the local communities.”
The Chambers of Health initiative is working to synchronize local culture around the goal of intervention through primary health education. This is to be done with cooperation from local and parish governments, schools, businesses, organizations and communities.
Of Louisiana’s 64 parishes, St. Mary ranks 34th in its region in smoking, obesity, physical activity, hypertension, diabetes and more. Adult smoking nationally rings in at 18 percent, while Louisiana is at 22 percent.
“All of you remember the tobacco settlement when the attorney general sued the tobacco companies,” Wiltz said. “We created a trust fund in Louisiana, it was $200 million.”
A trust was set up to hold the funds, and qualifies anyone in Louisiana who’s smoked before Sept. 1, 1988, to get free coverage to help them quit, free medication, counseling and doctor visits. Teche Action is in the process of developing services in St. Mary. If that fund is not used, it reverts back to the tobacco companies involved in the original suit.
“We’ve got to get this word out,” Wiltz insisted. He commended the parish council for smoking policies at the courthouse adopted in past years. “We’re not out to criminalize anyone. Most people who smoke want to quit.”
Wiltz said he’s hoping to work with the parish in the Chambers of Health initiative.
“I’m proud to live in St. Mary Parish,” he said. “All of us had a choice. We could have lived anywhere in Louisiana, in the country, in the world, but we chose to live in St. Mary Parish…we don’t want to be 34th. We don’t want to be 50th, but for sure we don’t want to be 34th.”
Wiltz said local governments can be proactive in aiding the initiatives with policies in place regarding smoking. Businesses will also be offered similar guidance at no charge, he said.
“I know we have a lot of talented people, Louisiana is rich in so many ways,” he said. “Unfortunately we have allowed some of the lifestyle that we have to get the best of us. That’s something about the culture that hasn’t changed, and we’re committed to it.”
It all begins with a grassroots movement in the communities, Wiltz indicated. “We hope to put this all over the parish so that every person that’s been with tobacco has an opportunity, if they want to take it, that they can take advantage of and we can have a healthy community and healthy workers.”

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