Furman launches major institute geared toward health
Furman University announced on Wednesday a new institute at the university that will involve students in partnership with Greenville Health System and community health organizations to improve the health of the greater Greenville community.
The new institute, called the Institute for the Advancement of Community Health, creates another major community facing role for the university as it seeks to marry the medical expertise of the hospital system with existing community organizations devoted to supporting healthier lifestyles.
Its goal will be to connect existing organizations, prevent organizations from duplicating efforts and providing research to improve preventative health and patient healthcare outcomes.
The new institute is designed in scope as the third branch of the university’s community involvement, along with the renowned Riley Institute and Shi Center for Sustainability.
It will capitalize on the interests of more than 1,000 Furman students each year who plan to pursue a career in some sort of health-related field, said Eli Hestermann, Executive Director of the IACH.
The institute will expand Furman’s research into the health of the Greenville community and will allow students to pursue more internships, research and mentorship opportunities, Hestermann said.
“This is a great example where Furman’s expertise and the needs of the community come into alignment,” Furman President Elizabeth Davis said in a statement.
Furman created a new major in public health and an interdisciplinary minor in medicine, health and culture this semester, Davis said.
As healthcare across the nation undergoes a shift from a care-based model to a model based on the value of care provided to patients, the university plans to focus on how it can improve the quality of health in Greenville by helping to connect organizations and provide needed research into what programs work and don’t work, Hestermann said.
“It’s a new paradigm for healthcare,” Hestermann said, “But of course there have been community groups that have been working towards those types of goals for a long time. So what we’re about is trying to connect those entities to make sure we’re all working together toward these common goals.”
And as the healthcare industry evolves, the type of worker needed will change as well, he said. The industry won’t be limited to patient care – doctors, nurses, therapists, pharmacists – but will include careers in preventative care to help people stay healthy, he said.
Furman already has about 100 students each year involved in internships and clinical observation programs at GHS, said Hestermann, who oversees the university’s pre-professional studies at GHS’ eight campuses across the Upstate.
Many more students will be involved in the new institute, which will create more opportunities to train a healthcare workforce for the future, he said.
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“Health care of the future will need a different type of workforce as the industry evolves,” GHS President Spence Taylor said. “This initiative supports that goal. GHS is already helping to redefine and develop the new vision of health care, but we must work with outstanding academic partners like Furman University to get it right for our patients and our community.”
The institute will work with existing programs like the new Medical-Legal Partnership among Furman, GHS and South Carolina Legal Services and with ongoing research and internships with groups like LiveWell Greenville and the Greenville Free Medical Clinic.
“The strengths of an academic institution is really to help evaluate what programs are going on, what’s working, what’s not and getting that information out there,” Hestermann said.
Rather than launching a program to tackle childhood obesity, for instance, researchers at the institute would sit down with existing community organizations to explain effective ways to combat obesity and help those groups tailor their programs to best fight the problem, he said.
The institute will also become the hub of Furman’s new Shared Academic Health Center, a partnership with GHS, Clemson University and the University of South Carolina to better prepare Furman students to enter graduate and professional programs at Clemson and USC.
And the new institute fits into the university’s strategic vision, launched in October, called The Furman Advantage, which guarantees students a personalized education with experiences outside of the classroom to prepare students for careers and to benefit the community.