Score Health for Health

Score Health for Health is an innovative cardiovascular disease prevention program offered by the Healthy Community Coalition. Score Health is based on decades of documented success by the Franklin Cardiovascular Wellness Program in reducing cardiovascular mortality in west central Maine. The principles of Score Health are founded on research endorsed by the American Heart Association, which may be accessed at www.americanheart.org. 

Score Health builds on the premise that one-on-one encounters with a patient, by trained healthcare professionals, enhance understanding of the importance of a heart healthy lifestyle and improve compliance with the plan of care that has been established for the patient by his physician.

Score Health focuses on identifying 5 risk factors specific to cardiovascular disease in individuals.

The program then works on promoting 5 behaviors for heart healthy living.

The initial 30-minute Score Health encounter gathers historical and demographic information and measures weight, height, waist circumference, hip circumference, blood pressure, total and HDL cholesterol. This information is integrated, based on the five risks and five behaviors, into a personalized action plan.

Each encounter is logged into a database for individual follow-up and evaluation of community trends. The patient leaves the session with the following:

Computer generated reports of Score Health results are shared with the primary care physicians. Individualized follow-up is provided as appropriate by the Score Health staff or through referral to a physician, dietician, behavioral health counselor, or other member of the healthcare team.

Success, individually and program-wide, is determined by monitoring changes in blood pressure, serum cholesterol level, body weight, smoking rates, and mortality and morbidity data.

Trained nurses and health educators provide Score Health encounters by appointment, in settings such as physician offices, worksites, and community sites, including the mobile health van, with a special focus on providing outreach to the underserved.