Healthcare continues to be one of the most critical and volatile issues around.
Although some religious hospitals can compete with for-profit corporations, many are opting to sell their facilities because reduced profit margins make it difficult to serve those who cannot pay. To accomplish this mission, foundations are working together to implement a new approach to health - one that focuses more on communities. In March, The Carter Center and InterHealth of St. Paul, an interfaith healthcare alliance, will bring together representatives of religious hospitals and foundations from across the nation. Our overall goal is to explore the role foundations can play in building healthy communities by using a public health approach, which stresses prevention and looks at whole populations, not just individual patients. Foundations also have learned that addressing communities is necessary because lifestyle choices are often greatly influenced by marketing ploys of major profit-driven companies that target the masses.