Akron General Health System and Kent State University are trying to give their wellness and disease prevention efforts a healthy boost with a new partnership.
The health system and university today are announcing a joint Health and Wellness Research Collaborative.
The partnership recently was created to research, develop and test programs that encourage healthy lifestyles and better management of chronic diseases, such as diabetes.
In recent years, Akron General has been building a niche in the wellness field, focused on its three Health & Wellness centers in the region.
The partnership will allow Akron General to provide proof its wellness programs work through peer-reviewed research by faculty and students from Kent State’s College of Public Health, said Dr. Thomas “Tim” Stover, the health system’s president and chief executive.
“We need to push this influence out further,” Stover said. “It’s not just about building buildings. It’s about showing outcomes about how this has had an effect in lowering the incidences of diabetes, lowering the incidences of obesity. … Honestly, what we need to do is start showing what sort of real outcomes are making a difference.”
One pilot project under development by the partners focuses on ways to prevent falls and sports injuries among people in their 40s and 50s, said Sonja Alemagno, dean of Kent State’s College of Public Health.
Another initiative is studying whether participation in wellness programs after hospitalizations can prevent readmittance to the hospital, she said.
“Our goal is to create models that can be tested locally but adopted nationally,” she said.
The partnership will give Kent State students and researchers “tremendous access to health and wellness data and create opportunities for significant prevention breakthroughs,” Todd Diacon, the university’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, said in a prepared statement.
Kent State is committing $50,000 worth of in-kind resources — primarily salaries of graduate assistants — to support the project, Alemagno said. The university and Akron General also are contributing $25,000 each to support the initial pilot projects.
By working together, the two organizations want to attract more federal funding for their research efforts, Alemagno said. The federal health-care reform law, commonly known as Obamacare, includes money to support wellness and disease-prevention efforts.
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or cpowell@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Powell on Twitter at twitter.com/abjcherylpowell.