UWCC Executive Director Joins Bayfront Health Board of Trustees
by Angie Matthiessen, Executive Director – United Way of Charlotte County
If we still don’t know if the chicken came before the egg, or vice versa, perhaps we are asking the wrong question.
This week I attended my first meeting as a member of the Board of Trustees for Bayfront Health Port Charlotte. Prior to coming to United Way of Charlotte County, all my professional work was in the maternal and child health arena in a hospital setting. When I attended Bayfront Health’s Board of Trustees orientation, I felt like I was at home and I felt excitement at the thought of being able to bridge my background with what our community needs.
Improving community health and wellbeing is at the forefront of what United Way of Charlotte County (UWCC) stands for in our efforts to reduce poverty. But did the poverty come first, or the health problems in a community? Here again, we are asking the wrong question.
In pondering the potential ‘right question’ with my longtime colleague, Suzanne Roberts, CEO of Virginia B. Andes Volunteer Community Clinic, we decided to connect with the new CEO of Bayfront Health Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda, Tara McCoy. Suzanne has been on the Bayfront Health Port Charlotte Board of Trustees for over three years and has a similar passion for community health and wellbeing.
The connection was made, and new questions were asked. What we really need to know is how UWCC can join forces with Bayfront Health and other local agencies to impact our community. After much discussion with Tara McCoy on this question, it is evident that there is a great opportunity for synergy between our organizations.
As one of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," Dr. Stephen R. Covey said of synergy, “(It) is better than my way or your way. It’s our way.” Our way is to move the needle on both reducing poverty and improving health outcomes for Charlotte County residents.
And we do this by working together.
Bayfront Health Port Charlotte has been working cooperatively with the United Way of Charlotte County funded collaboration Kids Thrive for several years.
Their labor and delivery and neonatal intensive care units (NICU) partner with Kids Thrive to improve outcomes for moms and babies who are in the program. Their staff also collect data on these families to track what is working and where there is opportunity for improvement. Through this partnership, many babies that were born substance-exposed have left the hospital with their mothers, never having needed the NICU.
Moving the needle on poverty and community health simultaneously doesn’t come down to a chicken or an egg.
It comes down to people.
UWCC and Bayfront Health Port Charlotte see the value in each individual and family that comes to us with a need. These are our neighbors, our friends and our family. I look forward to exploring additional opportunities to synergize with Bayfront Health for the benefit of Charlotte County’s residents.
If you would like to meet Bayfront Health Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda CEO Tara McCoy, she will be the keynote speaker at 11 a.m. Feb. 4 at Carmelo’s Italian Ristorante for the 5th Annual Women United Lunch.
More information on this event can be found at www.unitedwayccfl.org/5th-annual-women-united-lunch.
For more information, please call the United Way of Charlotte County at 941-627-3539. Mission: Mobilizing the power of our community to break the cycle of poverty. Angie Matthiessen is the Executive Director of United Way of Charlotte County. She can be reached at director@unitedwayccfl.org.