History of SHARE Foundation

SHARE Foundation was created in February of 1996 as a result of the joint venture between Medical Center of South Arkansas and what was previously Triad. Triad was acquired by Community Health Systems in 2007. In 2009 SHARE Foundation sold its 50% interest in MCSA to CHS. Primarily an operating foundation, SHARE is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity.

The mission of SHARE Foundation is to identify, develop and foster programs and services that further the health and well being of the people of our community and surrounding areas.

Our programs and services include:

1. Life Touch Hospice (formerly Community Hospice ) which provides an interdisciplinary team approach to the care of the terminally ill and their families. Life Touch Hospice has both a home care program and 16 bed inpatient facility known as the John R. Williamson Hospice House which opened in 2007. Life Touch Hospice serves Bradley, Calhoun, Columbia, Ouachita and Union Counties.
   
   
2. Interfaith Clinic provides primary medical care to a low income population, primarily the working uninsured. It
   began as a volunteer effort in the library of St. Mary’s Church
   where two patients were seen the first night. Interfaith became a SHARE Foundation agency in 1997. Prescription medication assistance, patient education and information & referral services are additional benefits offered by the clinic. A dental clinic and a cardiology specialty clinic were added in 2001. Interfaith Clinic joined the SHARE Foundation in the Plaza Building (403 West Oak Street) in 2010.
   
   
3. Chaplaincy Services were added in 1997 to provide spiritual care, emotional support and crisis ministry to Medical Center of South Arkansas patients, their families and MCSA employees.
   
   
4. PRIDE Youth Programs (formerly Arkansans for Drug Free Youth) was added in 1998 as a component of the prevention impact of SHARE Foundation because drug use is the leading cause of death for youth in our country. PRIDE provides age appropriate programs designed to educate and motivate youth and families in the development of healthy, drug free youth. Programs of PRIDE include: CHAMPS – Champs Have And Model Positive Peer Skills and then these CHAMPS become peer leaders for younger students. At the middle school level is a program called REAL-Responsible Education for Adolescent Leaders. This program empowers students to creatively share information with peers about tobacco, alcohol and drug abuse. Teen Time is a program for secondary students and adults focusing on developing healthy lifestyles. At the high school level we have the PRIDE program. This program encourages students to reach out to peers, younger students and the community with an assertive drug free message.
   
   
5. Scholarship Programs: The SHARE Scholarship Program seeks out committed students who are interested in health related and public education careers. These scholarships have paved the way for numerous men and women to obtain degrees and helps replenish our supply of medical personnel in Union County
   
   
6. Grant making: SHARE provides funding in the form of grants to other non profits that operate in Union County as yet another outreach into the community. Initially we used the top five unmet needs from the “Challenges We Face-Union County Needs Assessment Survey” as a focus. In 1999 we partnered with MCSA, AHEC, the Health Department and numerous community leaders and organizations in a health needs assessment known as Project TOUCH – Tremendous Opportunities for Union County Health. We researched the best practices and modeled our initiative after the Colorado Healthy Communities Initiative. In collaboration with the TOUCH Coalition (formerly Project TOUCH) we again assessed the needs of our community in 2010. The “Union County Community Needs Assessment” is the basis of SHARE Foundation’s grant making focus.
   
   
7. HealthWorks Fitness Center: Further analysis of the Community Health Profile report revealed that a wellness center properly structured had the potential to impact adverse health outcomes that are preventable. We put together a local steering committee and hosted a wellness center forum to make specific recommendations as to what should be considered. We believed the Center should be available to the community - a place where all generations could go; That it should have an affordable fee base and offer a scholarship program so that a significant segment of the local population could afford to participate; that we should strive for the health of the whole person: mind, body and spirit (understanding that in addition to faith our spirit reflects who we are, our meaning and purpose in life and our sense of community). The Center should begin with two key objectives: increased physical activity and improved nutrition. The Center should develop a core of health education programs designed to deal with things like stress in life, health promotion and disease prevention (stress & anxiety, weight loss, smoking cessation, high blood pressure, diabetes); We wanted to build on what we already had here in place; take advantage of existing community resources and empower others; collaborate, cooperate and coordinate at every opportunity. It was in the spirit of building on what we already had in place that SHARE and the YWCA came together. After several months of negotiations, the YWCA transferred its fitness facility and assets to SHARE. Because they shared the vision of improving health and well being for our community the wellness center project had its beginning in the Y facilities. In 2003 - 2004 a $5.4 million dollar renovation and expansion project was complete and we named our facility “HealthWorks Fitness Center”.

Board of Directors

Steve Cossé, Chairman
Knox White, Vice Chairman

Steve Cousins, Secretary

Dr. Matt Callaway
Steve Cameron
Diane Murfee

Deborah Nolan
Terry Norman
Dr. Allan Pirnique
Robert Reynolds
Dr. Steve Smart

Administrative Staff

Linda Stringfellow
          President and COO

Debbie Watts
          Vice Pres. of Administrative Services

Shelley Rahaim
          Public Relations Manager

Heather McGarity
          Accounting Manager

Shawna Ruffin
          Human Resources Manager

Libby Kloap
          Grant Writer

Dannette Fout
          Administrative Assistant

Amanda Cooley
          HR Communication Specialist

Betty Dowty
          Receptionist

Department Directors

Deb Crawford
          PRIDE Youth Programs

Mike Dupuis
          HealthWorks Fitness Center

Macy M. Braswell
          Life Touch Hospice

Jill Kemp
          Interfaith Clinic

Debbie Watts
          SHARE Scholarships & Grantmaking

Bro. Bob Inmon
          Chapliancy