Preventative measures

>Cheryl Dawson gets emotional when she talks about Adventist Health Feather River. A gastroenterologist at the hospital, Dr. Damian Pestana, diagnosed her with a rare liver disease in 2011 that necessitated a transplant, which she received two years later.

“Feather River Hospital kept me alive, essentially, before I got my liver,” she said. “I have tremendous heart for Feather River Hospital.”

After she’d recovered, Dawson represented Donor Network West—an organization bridging donation and transplantation—at Feather River’s annual health and wellness fair. She’s worked the event four years. Last fall, Dawson had a fateful encounter with Jean Aldridge, the hospital’s community outreach manager, recently hired to run a facility in Paradise focused on healthy living.

“Jean came running by and said, ‘I’ve got to talk to you—about the Wellness Center!’” Dawson recalled. “I met her, and it was just instant love. I have the utmost admiration for Jean and the whole mission here. Everything coalesced with what I believe.”

The Wellness Center had a so-called “soft opening” almost two years ago and official grand opening last October. Located in the Beyond Fitness building on the Skyway, in the space formerly occupied by Pillsbury Physical Therapy, the center hosts various support groups and health-education events. It’s also the site of this year’s health and wellness fair, Sunday afternoon (see infobox).

Dawson, a Paradise resident who relocated from the Bay Area, originally thought she’d volunteer at the Wellness Center “a few hours a week. I’m finding I’m here more and more.” Aldridge estimates she’s the equivalent of a half-time worker, including time Dawson devotes to projects at home.

“I realized how much Jean needed help—and not only that, I just want to be with her, and be a part of all this,” Dawson said.

“There’s a good synergy,” Aldridge added.

The Wellness Center came about thanks to another fateful union.

Mons Jensen, Feather River’s director of process improvement, noticed the vacant space while working out at Beyond Fitness. He’d pondered the idea of a wellness center in the heart of town, separate from the hospital campus on Pentz Road and the rural health clinic lower on the Skyway. Its two rooms would fit perfectly.

When Jensen approached gym owner Steve Gibson, it turned out Gibson had the same idea. Gibson serves on Feather River’s board; he and Jensen proposed the idea to administrators, who approved a lease agreement.

“We’re known as Feather River Hospital,” Jensen said, “but that’s pretty far down the road as far as when you need health care. There’s a lot more activity up front—an opportunity—and certainly the wellness space [in medicine] is growing.

“So, it’s a vision for serving people before they need acute care.”

Wellness Center offerings include a year-long prevention program for diabetes, jointly led by a dietician and a registered nurse; the Better Breathers Club, a support group for people with chronic respiratory issues, facilitated by a respiratory therapist; Integrated Pain Management Help 4 Healing, led by a physician; plant-based cooking classes; and support groups for cancer and for people quitting tobacco.

Events, aside from the health fair, have included the Bike Rodeo—where 37 of 101 attendees received a free bicycle—and a summer camp.

The Wellness Center also has formed a partnership with the Butte County Department of Public Health. Previously, Public Health had held cooking demonstrations for its healthy eating classes in the Salvation Army parking lot. The Wellness Center has a kitchen; now, the classes are there, and a diabetes educator from Feather River participates, too.

“There are some great resources in this community,” Aldridge said. “I’ve met some wonderful people, and I’m delighted to be able to partner with them, to try to be a connector.”

Aldridge got to her job serendipitously. She and her husband, Rick, moved from Hong Kong, where he’d worked four years as director of chaplain departments at two Adventist Health hospitals. The need to be closer to their aging parents, plus Rick’s desire to minister in hospice care, led them to Adventist Health Feather River. He became a hospice chaplain in May 2016.

A registered nurse with a master’s degree in psychological counseling, Aldridge continued telecommuting to Florida Hospital—another Adventist Health facility— for a year until she saw the opening to manage community outreach and lifestyle medicine for Feather River.

“I’ve wanted to combine the mental health and the health [aspects], because I know you need the motivation to pursue a healthy lifestyle,” Aldridge said. “This position felt like a dream come true to me, because when I got into nursing, my whole heart was in how can I keep people out of the hospital? … And this is all about that.”

Indeed, Jensen said, “a lot of our health challenges are driven by lifestyle—diabetes, obesity, which translates into depression and behavioral health challenges, which drives opioid and substance abuse.

“Serving the underserved population is what we really want to do, so we don’t charge for our services here. Some of the diabetes things are reimbursed and billable, but our vision here is these are free services to the community, as a referral center for people in need.”

Aldridge hopes Sunday’s fair alerts more people to their presence: “We don’t want to be the best-kept secret in Paradise.”