CARE Works has been an inventive ongoing partnership between the CARE Collaborative, HealthWorks Medical, and Purchase District Health Department. HealthWorks Medical provides comprehensive healthcare to corporate clients and their families. As a worksite wellness program, they work with a variety of agencies where they include the CARE Collaborative. In 2018, initially our primary project focus was to reduce hypertension on the riverboat industry to improve the cardiovascular health and overall wellness of this population. With this project, HealthWorks was able to help one of the barge industries to improve their meals on the boats by teaching the cooks different ways to cook using healthier recipes and revising their grocery stock by not carrying lard anymore. Purchase District Health Department provided educational materials to improve health literacy on tobacco prevention and nutrition. We have since then included other entities such as Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring (SMBP) with their Accountable Care Organization (ACO) clinics. A blood pressure monitor is given to those individuals who have out of control blood pressure. The blood pressure readings are monitored and reviewed by HealthWorks and trends are sent to the participant’s provider. HealthWorks has also acquired a large company that has two-thirds Spanish speaking employees. We have provided the CARE Collaborative Blood Pressure Record cards as well as the Family CAREs cards in Spanish.

Worksite wellness is an excellent opportunity to reach the employee which, in turn flows over to the family. CARE Works intention is to continue to reach individuals and their families to provide health literacy and improve access to care through SMBP.

To learn more, contact the CARE Works team at jennie@healthworksmedical.com and KayleneS.Cornell@ky.gov.