Johnette Gindling Space Coast Health Foundation CEO/President Shares 2022 Health Needs Assessment

Every three years, the acclaimed Space Coast Health Foundation, located in Brevard County, Florida, issues a detailed report on the overall health of the community. The report takes a detailed look at the various aspects of health whether it is an actual health condition impacting residents or a Social Determinant.

The Great American Senior Show host Sam Yates sits down with Space Coast Health Foundation CEO and President Johnette Gindling to drill down on the details of the 2022 Assessment and explore what the Foundation is all about. 

Transcript

Sam Yates: 0:11

Hello everyone and welcome to another exciting edition of The Great American Senior Show. I'm your grey haired host, Sam Yates and today we are in Brevard County and my special guest has a lot to share with you. My special guest today is CEO and President of the Space Coast Health Foundation, Johnette Gindling. Welcome to the program today.

Johnette Gindling: 0:34

Well, thank you glad to be here.

Sam Yates: 0:36

You know, I always like to start the program with learning about my guest because our audience is very much interested in you just as much as they are interested in the foundation. So tell us about yourself.

Johnette Gindling: 0:49

So I moved to provide in 2004 I love living here. It's an amazing community. I am married to my husband Mike and we have two adult sons who live in Orlando and in Lake County. And I came here to Brevard to work for Gustaf health system in 2004. And that's how I ended up here at the Space Coast Health Foundation.

Sam Yates: 1:13

You know, I think a lot of people may hear that name and unless they've been around here a while, they may not recognize Gustaf Tell us how that started little of the history and how it got into your foundation.

Johnette Gindling: 1:25

Absolutely. woofstock health system actually started as Gustaf Hospital in Rockledge. And it began with a contribution from the community and from Mr. Gustaf who matched those funds to create a hospitals that wasn't here healthcare wasn't available back then. So that happened and a hospital was born and quickly that hospital became growing into a health system and ended up by 2010 with two hospitals and lots of other health services for this community, which was was wonderful. But in 2010, that is when the Wooster off health system sold to at that time Health Management Associates HMA. And that's how the funds were created for Space Coast Health Foundation.

Sam Yates: 2:12

And we sometimes see that happen. Florida is somewhat unique because we have hospital organizations or health organizations that do transition into foundations or health systems that are that are more dedicated back to the community that Gustaf legacy, is that how you're totally funded today or do extra funds come in to the foundation.

Johnette Gindling: 2:35

The majority of our funds are from the sale of foodstuff. But we do get other donations, people are inspired by our work. And they do said and we appreciate that very much because it does help us to further the projects that we're doing to improve health and wellness.

Sam Yates: 2:51

Every organization is literally strengthened by its board of directors. And when I look at your board of directors, there's a wow factor there. Tell us about your board.

Johnette Gindling: 3:02

We have an amazing board of directors. There are eight members on that board. It is chaired by Adam bird from white bird law. And we really work hard to make sure that our board is representative of our community and of the skill sets that are needed to govern this organization. And so, some of the other board members are Linda Dell, who's a CPA, an accountant. We have kalinya Sen, who is an investment advisor. We have Dr. Jane Benton and Tricia Babs who are both healthcare experts and clinicians. We have Patrice pilot, who is an attorney Fran Pickett and James Dwight are also on the board. They bring an amazing skill set and help us to govern this organization.

Sam Yates: 3:49

Well I want to put the invitation out now that if any of your board members would like to come on and share their perspective from where they sit on the board and from what they see in the community, the door is open the microphone is on and I would certainly be glad to to have them on and let them share why they're here and what they are doing to help the health concerns and the health needs in our community. And that leads me right into say that when I look at your organization and it says what we're all about what word sums it up health?

Johnette Gindling: 4:25

Yes, we are about health. That is our mission is to improve the health and wellness of Brevard County. And that doesn't mean that we only fund grants of projects in Brevard, but we do things in a broader perspective to help improve Brevard overall, and sometimes that includes some statewide work.

Sam Yates: 4:45

And I'm glad you said grants because a lot of folks may not realize that to meet those health needs. This organization does make grants available. Tell us the type of grants and what is the the process and who may have apply for those grants to take care of those health needs in our community.

Johnette Gindling: 5:04

So our grant process really is by invitation. And what I mean by that is, our board of directors looks at health care data, our Community Health Needs Assessment, focus, group data, interview data, and they take that information and choose from that the priorities for our community. So we have right now currently, our three focus areas are dental, access to care, and behavioral health. And those are the things that we are working on to make improvements because that's what the community through those assessments told us were are important to them. So we have three task forces that meet on a monthly basis to talk about those issues, to develop solutions for those issues. And then we help to fund or find funding sometimes to make that improvement happen.

Sam Yates: 5:57

Can you give us some some examples of the type of grants and the impact that they have had in the community.

Johnette Gindling: 6:03

So one of the ones that has been probably going on the longest that we're proud of is with our dental Task Force. We have now completed we do two a year, a dental day that we work with the Department of Health and Brevard Health Alliance, and local dentist who will spend a Saturday helping people who can't afford dental care to get out of pain. So if they have a tooth that is bad, and they needed it extracted, we do those services free twice a year at one of the clinics, either BHA or Eastern Florida State College where they can have that pain relieved and it's at no cost to them. So that's one of the projects that that has come about from our work.

Sam Yates: 6:45

I think that I may have first been introduced or first met you face to face during or after a session that you spoke at with the Brevard Health Care Coalition of which I'm a member. And I was so impressed at the many things that you're doing in the community. So I think the more people, at least from my perspective, the more people that could know about you, the more that can be done in our communities, their statement,

Johnette Gindling: 7:11

I appreciate that. Although I will say you know, our board and our staff, we've taken it behind the scenes. Look, we support the agencies that are out there doing the hard works, you do. And so and that's the role we want to play

Sam Yates: 7:24

the importance of being here today. And before I go too much further, I have to ask, Will you come back for another show? Because there are some topics that we're going to get into that. We could sit here all day and talk about them? Could you come back for another episode,

Johnette Gindling: 7:42

I would be happy to.

Sam Yates: 7:44

And that leads me into teasing what we're going to be talking about. Again, I think when we first met you were talking about the needs assessment of Brevard County, and it was a wow factor. We now have the new needs assessment, the 2022 needs assessment that has been completed, I stayed up several nights reading it because believe it or not, folks, when I started looking at the charts, I could go Wow. And then you start looking at some of the information that supports it. And what it has done is give a not just a snapshot, but almost a movie presentation of what's going on health wise in our community. Tell us about that needs assessment.

Johnette Gindling: 8:28

The needs assessment is a project we do every three years. And so we have a lot of benchmarking and trend data which is so helpful to us in determining where we put resources where we put our time and energy and dollars to make a difference. And so it gives us a snapshot of what's happening with healthcare in our community, and where there are areas of opportunity. And so those are some of the things we can talk about.

Sam Yates: 8:52

And I think when you say areas of opportunities, as we get into the report, a lot of folks make a while you know, that's a trend that we need to keep an eye on. And when you say opportunity for everything that is revealed that perhaps has a negative to it or even a perceived negative. That's an opportunity, as you say, and we'll be going into more details on that.

Johnette Gindling: 9:16

So many of the social determinants of health, we don't always think of them as health care, but they make a difference. People want to be in a house in a safe place. They need food, they need those basics, and all that affects our long term health.

Sam Yates: 9:29

Now, three years when you say it's this needs assessment is done every three years outside organization, how is it done? Is it in the community? Is it surf? Is it face to face? How is it conducted?

Johnette Gindling: 9:42

So it is done by an outside organization that we've used the same organization again, so that we can continue that benchmarking data. And it's done in two ways. It's through either a phone call to a resident in our community randomly selected to match the demographics of our community. And we also Have an internet link so that people can go online and complete the survey that way. So we collect about 1300 surveys, in order to get a very clear picture of what's happening with health in our community.

Sam Yates: 10:14

As you mentioned online, I realized that here 15 minutes into our interview, I haven't asked you a single time, how do people go to the website? What's your website address? And how many people find out more information about the space goes Health Foundation,

Johnette Gindling: 10:29

our web address is S C. H. F brevard.org.

Sam Yates: 10:35

One final little tease before we break for a new episode, without giving away the details, because I know we want to get into the details. Were there some surprises in the 2022? Health Needs Assessment for Broward County?

Johnette Gindling: 10:52

I would say yes, in that maybe not a surprise that it was on the areas of opportunity, but this significant jump and that was in mental health.

Sam Yates: 11:04

With that, I'm going to say to our audience, we want you to come back for a another episode. And you know, having been in the news business for a long time, Genet that is one of the best teasers for people to come back for another episode that I've heard in a very, very long time. And thank you. So I want to thank our president and CEO Jeanette for being here with us today for the Space Coast Health Foundation information that we want to share with everyone. We're going to be back with her for another episode in the near future. For now, I'm Sam Yates, your gray haired host of The Great American senior show. And that's the way our program ends