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Gainesville Today
August 2013

MyHealthStory, a creation of CommunityHealth IT, a nonprofit organization, provides safe, secure communication between doctors and patients. Dr. David Willis, the company’s chief medical information officer and medical director; and co-director Kendra Siler-Marsiglio PhD, shared how the company is bridging the rural health gap, particularly in North Central Florida.

Q: How and why did CommunityHealth IT get started?
A: CommunityHealth IT started in 2009 when medical, economic development, and learning institution leaders decided that patients and medical providers in Gainesville and its surrounding […]

WellFlorida News Release
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (Feb. 22, 2012)—The North Central Florida Cancer Control Collaborative (NCFCCC) will be hosting its 2012 Kickoff on Wednesday, February 29. Guest speaker, Dr. Johannes Vieweg, MD, will present on “Prostate Cancer: Current Screening Policy Debates and Recommendations.” The event will be from 10 a.m. to noon at Haven Hospice E.T. York Care Center, 4200 NW 90th Blvd., Gainesville. CEUs are available for participation.

Dr. Vieweg of the University of Florida Department of Urology and Prostate Disease Center, will provide an overview […]

Gainesville Sun, February 2, 2012
With a goal to reduce the number of African American women getting breast cancer, WellFlorida is looking to partner with African-American churches to educate parishioners about breast cancer prevention.

Kim Gokhale, associate planner of Community Initiatives for WellFlorida, said African American women are disproportionately affected by breast cancer and their cancer is more aggressive than in white women.

WellFlorida was formerly known as the North Central Florida Health Planning Council.

Gokhale said WellFlorida is reaching out to churches to participate in “Believe! Breast […]

Citrus County Chronicle Online, January 29, 2012
No one grows up hoping to get on Medicaid.

The program pays for medical care for the poor and disabled and those who are barely scraping by.

It’s the place to go when there is no place else to go. Without Medicaid, most couldn’t afford a simple medical checkup or trip to the dentist.

But it’s also for children of struggling parents to give them the opportunity to grow up healthy, and mothers-to-be for pre-natal care.

And, it is for the poor […]

Gainesville Sun, January 27, 2012
A number of taps on his iPad and Dr. Donald Novak can get up-to-the-minute views of every test, imaging study and prescription his patient has encountered — at least at Shands HealthCare.

Adding a diagnosis will automatically generate some suggestions for treatment. If the pediatrician prescribes something the patient is allergic to or that will react with another of the patient’s prescriptions, the doctor gets an alert. And the patient’s progress will be part of a mass of data that will […]

PhysBizTech, January 17, 2012
Federal funding for health information technology (HIT) has largely been directed at small practices in rural-urban areas. In addition to funding and training IT staff, most managers of these practices would probably agree that coordination of regional HIT resources and a go-to knowledge base for implementing HIT would help them better serve their patients and providers.

To help meet these needs in North Central Florida, CommunityHealth IT was formed three years ago. This organization is a learning network and coordinating body for […]

Gainesville Sun, January 16, 2012
WellFlorida is putting out the call to predominantly black churches in the area to help boost the rates of breast cancer screening among black women.

The state-designated local health council for North Central Florida was awarded a grant from the American Cancer Society Florida Division’s Community Education Grant Program to Address Cancer Disparities for this fiscal year, taking aim at the disease that is the second-leading cause of death among American women.

Compared with 57.1 percent of white women older than 40 […]

WellFlorida News Release
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (Jan. 11, 2012)—Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American women, and African American women are disproportionately affected by it. Recent data shows that in Alachua County only 30.8% of African American women over the age of 40 received a mammogram to screen for breast cancer compared to 57.1% of White women. The age‐adjusted death rate for African American women is also more than 40% higher than their White counterparts. Believe! Breast Cancer Prevention through Churches […]

Gainesville Sun, January 8, 2012
You might think this is an emergency: Feverish, a sore that is oozing and skin that is extremely itchy.

With those symptoms, the exam room that Tiffany Williams entered last week was not in a hospital emergency department, but at the University of Florida Shands Eastside Community Practice.

“I feel like I’m home here,” said Williams, 35, of Gainesville, who works as a cashier at Food Lion. “And my doctors are wonderful.”

And it costs a fraction of what it would have had […]

Home Magazine, October 2011
By serving 16 counties in North Central Florida, WellFlorida Council helps more than 1.6 million people across 11,000 square miles, with almost 248,000 of those being Alachua County residents, lead healthier lives. And you’ve probably never heard of them.

“People won’t know who we are,” said Steven Oliva, MHA, CEO of WellFlorida, “We rarely ask for donations or fundraise. Our goal is not to make $1 million but to build healthier communities.”

WellFlorida began in 1969 under its original name, North Central Florida […]