Logan Health in Cut Bank recently announced the addition of the WISEWOMAN Program (Well‑Integrated Screening and Evaluation for Women Across the Nation) to women in Glacier County and neighboring rural communities.
Justin Robicheau reports - watch the video here:
The federally-funded program offers no‑cost cardiovascular screenings, education, and lifestyle support to eligible women ages 35 to 64 who are uninsured or have high‑deductible insurance plans and meet income requirements at or below 250% of the federal poverty level.
It is a CDC-funded initiative that operates in 32 states, two tribal organizations, and one U.S. territory.
Logan Health Clinical Pharmacist Joe Tabler said the program differs from a standard annual wellness visit.
"Because an annual wellness visits focus is on overall health and well-being. WISEWOMAN focus is strictly on cardio vascular risk factors and the cardiovascular complications that can come from, say, things like hypertension, and we have to work with those to reduce those because that is a major factor in shortened life expectancy."
"I said, let's look at an area that is rural and is probably economically disadvantage edged. And that's why we came out and we talked to Heather and the crew out at Cut Bank. We did a presentation to the providers, and everybody seemed to think it would be a good fit for the community. So that's what started the genesis of getting WISEWOMAN into the Glacier County area," said Tabler.
Heather Nunn, Director of Clinical Services at Logan Health Cut Bank, said Glacier County is a very underserved community.
"Just with how rural we are and how far away we are from a lot of the major services. So being able to get a program like this for our communities is just such a huge step forward for people that live in the rural frontier, frontier area."
"Glacier County has a higher rate of women with cardiovascular concerns than, any of the other counties across the state," said Nunn.
Nunn said she loves the idea of adding the WISEWOMAN program as another service for the community: "This will help our communities be healthier and have the screenings that they need to have in order to be able to take care of their families and just be more active and have a happy, healthier life."
