A New Approach to Reducing Healthcare Disparities in Lake County
Mark Saltzman remembers the day when he first realized there was a problem with access to healthcare.
“It was during the 1980s and I was about 30 years old,” he says. “A woman I’d recently hired for an office job came to tell me that she wouldn’t be in the next morning because she was having a tooth pulled.
“I said, ‘Oh, I’ve had my wisdom teeth out, it’s terrible.’ And she said, no, it wasn’t a wisdom tooth, it was an eye tooth. Astonished, I looked at her and said, ‘You’re 32, why would you have an eye tooth pulled?’ She told me that it was half the cost to have it pulled than to have it fixed, and it was all she could afford.
“I’ve never forgotten that conversation,” Mark says. “It was really my first awakening to the disparity in access to healthcare.”
An Eye-Opening Experience
Mark is the CEO and president of Buyers Products Company, a family business established in 1946 by Mark’s wife Shelly’s grandmother and great uncle as a distributor of truck and trailer components. Anchored in Mentor, Ohio since 1985, the business is now a leading manufacturer of products for the truck equipment trailer component industry.
Mark went home to Shelly that day and said, “I've been totally blind to this. We need to get dental insurance to all our employees so that they're not pulling their teeth prematurely because it saves them money.”
Recognizing the link between dental health and overall health, in addition to providing medical insurance Buyers Products made dental insurance for employees and their families a priority—recently adding coverage for orthodontia as well.
Lake County Healthcare Inequities
For decades, the Mentor area in Lake County was an agricultural haven and much of the land was used for raising crops, such as flowers and vegetables. People who provided most of the labor on the nurseries along Lake Erie were laid off when winter weather arrived. That’s how many people then found jobs in manufacturing and distribution in Lake County.
Mark says because some of the people are hampered by the complexities of the healthcare system, they often wait to address health issues until it’s too late. He feels that could be part of the reason that Lake County is disproportionately affected by substance use disorder, obesity and chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes.
After learning some of the specific data about the region’s health problems from discussions with Cleveland Clinic leaders, the Saltzmans decided to fund Cleveland Clinic’s efforts to help reduce healthcare disparities in Lake County and to make a significant impact in the community where many of Buyers Products employees live.
Specifically, the Saltzman gift enables Cleveland Clinic Mentor Hospital to establish the Lake County Community Health Accelerator and fund a new position of Medical Director for Community Health Outcomes, with the purpose of supporting Lake County community health initiatives.
Inspiring Change with Local Support
“The idea is to help Lake County residents gain more access to healthcare resources,” says Shelly. “We’re excited because this approach is a pilot program for other Cleveland Clinic community hospitals.”
The Medical Director will work in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic's Chief Community Officer and Chief of Staff, according to Beri Ridgeway, MD, Cleveland Clinic Chief of Staff. “The position will serve as the clinical advisor on the community health strategy and finalizes the implementation plan for the Lake County/East Submarket area public health strategies aligned with community health needs assessment,” she says.“The role also includes collaborating to build community partnerships with both internal and external organizations, health plans, local and state agencies, philanthropy and Mentor Hospital.”
Vickie Johnson, MPA, Chief Community Officer at Cleveland Clinic says this role differs from anything else currently available in the Mentor area, with a focus on social determinants of health (SDoH) – the non-medical factors that affect health outcomes, including the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age. “The Medical Director will work with community residents in many instances prior to them being patients,” she says. “They’ll lead with SDoH screening to mitigate social gaps, work with employers and other organizations on chronic disease prevention strategies so the Community Health Equity Team and a Community Health worker to implement substantive interventions that lead to better outcomes.”
To honor the Saltzmans’ generosity and commitment to the residents of Lake County, the Cleveland Clinic Mentor Hospital Saltzman Family Pavilion was recently unveiled.
“The new Mentor Hospital is a beautiful place,” Mark commented. “Our support is all about helping people enter the healthcare system and get their issues taken care of to prevent more serious problems.”
Richard Parker, MD, president of Hillcrest and Mentor hospitals agrees. “It is clear that the Saltzmans are committed to the health and wellness of Lake County residents. Their leadership gift will benefit the members of the community now and in the future.”
Three-Wheel Therapy Brings Smiles
What started as a Catalyst Grant has become a lasting program that is empowering children in our community. Nathan Ogonek, PT, DPT, a physical therapist at Cleveland Clinic Children’s, recently held a second “Chance to Tryke Build Day" with his team, putting smiles on the faces of another 30 adventure-seeking pediatric patients – each of whom got to take home their very own adaptive tricycle. That makes 59 families who have benefited from the program so far.
Dr. Ogonek was awarded a $22,588 Catalyst Grant in 2022 and used the award money to buy the necessary parts to build 29 adaptive tricycles for patients at the first Chance to Tryke Build Day. He made sure the grant became a catalyst for further growth when he created the Chance to Tryke fundraising page and started holding events and raffles. This is all part of an effort to buy additional trikes for more kids who are challenged with cerebral palsy, developmental delay, muscular dystrophy, arthrogryposis and many other conditions that limit their mobility. Ideally, most trikes will be returned to the program when the children outgrow them.
“I wanted to give our patients an opportunity to explore their surroundings and really enjoy a fun activity with the rest of their family,” says Dr. Ogonek. Of course, he knew how important movement was for building endurance, but he also hypothesized that three-wheelin’ would give the children a sense of accomplishment, freedom and pride. “I think every therapist strives to find that activity that is exciting for their patient.”
The adaptive tricycles gave these children “an opportunity to participate in an activity to build strength and endurance, explore their environment and participate in something that every child should be able to enjoy,” says Dr. Ogonek. The feeling of success that kids get from the experience, he says, is – in the words of one mom – “life changing … really a big deal.”
Catalyst Grants are funded annually by thousands of gifts of all sizes from donors. The competitive grants are awarded to caregivers with ideas to improve the lives of Cleveland Clinic patients, the organization and communities around the world.
“One of the coolest things is to see the reaction from the patients and the families when they get the bikes,” says Dr. Ogonek. “The excitement this year was through the roof.” But his most cherished feedback on the program, he says, came on the first Build Day. “One of the patients was riding her tricycle and just in the most excited voice, she said, ‘This is the best day ever.’”
