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Tri-County Project Care
Project Care executive director ready for challenge
Source: Charleston Regional Business Journal, May 17, 2004
Written by: Holly Fisher, Contributing Writer

A nurse by training, Cathy Ferry Middleton had a desire to improve health care in a larger setting. She spent several years with CIGNA Healthcare operations in North Carolina and Tennessee before settling in South Carolina in 1996. In March she took charge of Tri-County Project Care, a major community-based health care initiative.

Only in its third year, Project Care serves Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties by providing affordable health care to people who have no access to it. Project Care is a nonprofit program funded by Charleston County, Charleston County Medical Society, East Cooper Regional Medical Center, Medical Society of South Carolina, Medial University of South Carolina, Roper St. Francis Healthcare, Trident Health System and Trident United Way.

Project Care focuses on building a healthier community through preventative medicine and by ensuring that every person has a medical home where he or she can receive screenings and preventative care. About 1,000 local doctors are part of the program, which had 2,300 participants in April.

As the executive director, Middleton’s goal is to further the vision of the board and of Dr. Casey Fitts, who spent a year away from his own private practice to launch Project Care. Middleton is focused on fostering a spirit of collaboration, bringing together like-minded agencies to further the goal of a healthier community.

She is hopeful a bill before the state Senate will pass, creating a state Health Care Access Commission. The seven-member commission would provide direction for creating a Medicaid Expansion Program for working adults of small business; develop licensing regulations allowing nonprofit community-based health care programs to raise funds through prepayment feeds; seek funding to develop educational programs to prepare South Carolinians to be better health care consumers; and investigate other issues that may be barriers to accessible health care.

Middleton is encouraged by the community enthusiasm for solving health care problems she has seen. She believes Project Care has played a role in that.

“I’ve seen how this program is impacting the mobilization of the community,” she says.

As she continues to acclimate herself to the new job, Middleton is concentrating on learning all she can about Project Care as well as other programs in the community to ensure Project Care is leveraging all the available resources.

Middleton is hopeful Project Care will be key in bringing health care to all residents and points out that Project Care can recommend alternatives like Trident United Way or MUSC’s Lifestyle Management program to those who do not qualify for Project Care services.

“I define success for us as no South Carolinian would be without health care,” Middleton says. “It’s my personal mission. We don’t have to be the solution but be part of ensuring that’s the outcome.”

While that goal could take generations to achieve, Middleton says the community is ready to take action.

“We clearly have the finest physicians and medical facilities here,” she says. “If we can continue this path of collaboration and leverage our resources, it would have a larger community impact than what Tri-County Project Care can do on its own.”