Carol Solomon: targeting chronic illness in New Orleans

Cajun and Creole foods and a “let the good times roll” attitude make New Orleans and its surrounding parishes a great place to visit, but they're also among the contributing factors making it difficult for residents to maintain healthy lifestyles. Statewide figures show Louisiana has the third-highest diabetes rate in the country at 10.3% and the nation's third-highest rate of heart disease rate at 7.8%.

Such chronic illness, along with the obesity epidemic, continues to vex the healthcare system, driving the need for new approaches to care. In search of such answers, Carol Solomon, CEO of Peoples Health in New Orleans, spearheaded the 2012 alliance between the physician-owned Medicare Advantage HMO and the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center to create the Center for Healthcare Advancement. The center established an advisory board that assembles best practices for the treatment and prevention of prevalent chronic conditions and shares them with Peoples Health's network of physicians, who currently treat more than 57,000 Medicare patients. The school then teaches its medical students these protocols.

Solomon, 71, said the center has been a major success. “The consultants on the advisory board speak with specialists in the community; this is not the health plan coming out with a protocol, but rather, the medical school,” she says. “We've had incredible buy-in because the information is given doctor-to-doctor.”

Among her leadership roles outside of Peoples Health, Solomon serves on the board of directors for the Louisiana Public Health Institute, which is also working to improve the health and quality of life in the community through public-private partnerships.

Many Louisiana seniors also face malnutrition. To help address the entrenched problem, Peoples Health, through Solomon's leadership, has been actively donating food in various Louisiana parishes through an alliance with Catholic Charities and the Archdiocese of New Orleans. In March 2013, Solomon ensured Peoples Health's direct sponsorship of 400,000 food boxes in 23 parishes through the archdiocese program. Subsequent distributions were made in May and October of that year.

Along with efforts that focus on better nutrition for seniors and helping them develop healthier lifestyles, Solomon also acknowledges the challenges of the southeastern Louisiana culture. “We try to help people understand that they have to change their lifestyles; they have to exercise and look at what they're eating,” Solomon said. “But we also have local chefs show them how you can cook this food that we all love in a healthier way.”

Mike Mitka is a freelance writer based in River Forest, Ill. Reach him at [email protected].