Despite a recent loss of funding, the Polk County Wellness Coalition plans to move forward with efforts to improve the health of area residents.
“We’re going to continue but we’re all going to have to take on a little bit more,” said Kathy Woodham, director of marketing for St. Luke’s Hospital and chair of the coalition.
Woodham said the coalition is funded solely through grants including the salary for the coordinator position, previously held by Chuck Whalen.
“It wasn’t anything we did or didn’t do, with the economy our prior funding sources are just simply no longer viable,” Woodham said.
Coalition member Mary Smith, who is a health educator with Polk County/Rutherfordton Health Department, said grant funding from the Department of Health and Human Service/Office of Healthy Carolinians, Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, Polk County Community Foundation and a contribution from Polk County government has provided the part-time staff support of a coalition coordinator since the group’s formal organization in October 2007.
The pay grade was determined by the state office of personnel depending on the qualifications of the applicant and the job description.
Smith said the amount was not enough, however, to cover what she feels are the real needs of the organization.
“The Polk Wellness Coalition had limited funds so we opted to hire a coordinator for 19 hours per week with no benefits,” she said. “This approach poses a problem because it is hard to get qualified people for the position with low hours and no benefits or job security. Ideally, the position needs a health educator and it is very hard to get that with a part-time offer with no benefits and soft money to support the position.”
The median annual wages of health educators averaged about $44,000 a year in May 2008. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $26,210, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $78,260, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Everyone on the coalition has a full-time job, Woodham said, which makes it a bit more difficult to keep the group focused on tasks that must be completed to move their efforts in a positive direction.
“Our coordinator would keep the ball running for each action team,” she said.
Former coordinator Whalen would work with the teams of volunteers on projects ranging from access to care to obesity to mental health and substance abuse.
The coordinator would then assist the action teams in applying for funding to back those projects.