LMH proposes health and wellness partnership with city

Imagine, rather than going to the hospital for things like basic health screenings or health education activities, just going down the street to your neighborhood Parks and Recreation facility.

That kind of community access could eventually result from a proposal made by the Lawrence Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees on Wednesday.

At its May meeting, the Board approved proposals to develop a partnership with the city of Lawrence to improve and broaden the hospital’s outreach in health and wellness into the community.

The proposals include sponsorship of Lawrence Parks and Recreation facilities, leasing space at Sports Pavilion Lawrence and the development of collaborative wellness programming.

“Combining the hospital’s health expertise with the city’s recreational facilities — the goal of this partnership is to achieve a vision of Lawrence as the healthiest community in America,” Gene Meyer, CEO and president of LMH, said in a press release announcing the proposal.

In the proposal, LMH would financially support the city partnership with $50,000 a year for the next five years. After that, renewal of the partnership would be negotiable. LMH would also have signage at the four recreation centers: Sports Pavilion Lawrence, East Lawrence Recreation Center, Holcom Park Recreation Center and the Lawrence Community Building.

“We thought, we have all the health professionals; what we don’t have are the facilities,” said Janice Early, vice president of marketing and communications at LMH. “And from there it has morphed into a greater partnership.”

Meyer said LMH is committed to collaborating with city and Parks and Rec staff to identify and develop health and wellness programming, such as health screenings and educational presentations.

Collaborations such as the Health Spot at the Lawrence Public Library have already broadened health education conversations in the community, Early said, and this new proposal will only create more opportunities. “We haven’t even scratched the surface of where this partnership can go,” she said.

LMH also is proposing a lease of 4,007 square feet of space at Sports Pavilion Lawrence for sports performance training and other wellness programming. The lease will be for 10 years at $50,000.

The proposals now go to the Lawrence City Commission.

Tim Laurent, recreation operations manager with Lawrence Parks and Recreation, said there has been some discussion among Parks and Rec staff members about what the city offers, what LMH offers, and how they can work together. However, the proposal still needs to go before the City Commission, so conversations have been preliminary. But he was enthusiastic about the potential for the collaboration.

“We are pretty excited about the possibilities and looking forward to what this partnership could bring for LMH and for us, and most important, for the community,” Laurent said.