A new healthcare nonprofit organization in Maryland recently launched to better address rural patients’ needs. IMBUEfoundation will provide care and transportation services to Maryland’s Eastern Shore communities, to improve residents’ options for care and lifestyle choices.
“IMBUEfoundation was established to eliminate the barriers that prevent people from accessing healthcare and living healthy lives,” founder Dr. Seun Ross said. “We are working to address obstacles like health literacy, transportation, and care coordination.”
Recent research by Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and NPR shows that receiving good healthcare is the second-biggest problem for rural American families. Major health concerns for rural Maryland residents include chronic disease, health literacy, care coordination, outreach and education, according to a 2017 assessment by the Maryland Rural Health Association. IMBUEfoundation notes on its site that the lack of services and coordinated care has led many Maryland residents to struggle in finding proper care.
“Healthcare is more than just going to the doctor,” Ross said. “For example, someone who lives in a place like Caroline County, which is both a food swamp and a food desert, is going to have a harder time making healthy food choices, which can lead to obesity— a major factor of chronic disease. It’s a domino effect.”
The new non-profit is helping those in need with nurse practitioners, acting as “clinical concierges” who provide counseling, monitoring, and stewardship activities. The nurse practitioners assist with coordinate care delivery for patients, explain healthcare plans and treatment options, and provide education on alternative care, in addition to other necessary tasks.
“From providing transportation to helping patients coordinate between doctors, IMBUEfoundation is working to make sure Maryland’s mid-shore residents have the resources they need to be healthy and happy,” Ross said. “But there’s still so much work to be done.”
For more information about IMBUEfoundation, visit imbuefoundation.org.
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