Health & Wellness
Healthbeat
Hospital's new leader
The Board of Trustees of High Point
Regional has appointed Ernie Bovio as presi
dent and CEO.
He will succeed Jeff Miller, who retired
March 31 after 26 years of service to the
organization. Bovio will begin serving as CEO
in early May.
Prior to joining High Point Regional,
Bovio has served as CEO
with Baylor, Scott &
White Health, where he
oversaw three hospitals
and 22 clinics in the Hill
Country & Round Rock
Regions in Texas for the
last nine years.
Bovio comes with
more than 18 years of
health care management
experience. He has also
held leadership positions
Bovio
with tenet Healthcare as CEO Of Trinity
Medical Center, Paracelsus Healthcare
Corporation as COO and Duke University
Health System and Medical Center as director
of Strategic Planning and Business
Development. He began his career with The
Sisters of Charity Health Care System in
Houston, Texas.
"1 am looking forward to joining UNC
Health Care and the High Point Regional
team," said Bovio. "I am honored to be select
ed to succeed him and lead High Point
Regional through the ever changing and chal
lenging times we are facing in health care. My
family is as excited about being part of the
High Point community as I am. We are look
ing forward to the move!"
tempter Is new Potentate
The Oasis Shriners - which has more
than 6,000 members in the 50 Western North
Carolina counties and is headquartered in
Charlotte - have named David Sumpter as its
new chief executive officer or Potentate.
Sumpter is a graduate of Sewanee and the
Universitv of Tennessee
School of Law. He
served in the Air Force
during the Vietnam War
and is an attorney in
Murphy. He notes that
his inspiration to serve
as a Shriner comes from
the children that the
group serves.
The Shriners own
and operate hospitals in
cities across the United
States tor children with orthopedic condi
tions, cleft lip and palate, spinal cord trauma
and burn injury. Shriner Hospitals treat chil
dren regardless of a family's ability to pay.
Out of the local 195 clubs, the Oasis
Shriners are the largest contributors in
the international Shrine organization. Last
year alone, the Oasis Shriners sponsored a
large number of fundraising projects includ
ing golf tournaments, car auctions, car races
and dinners and raised $1,251,000 to provide
treatment for 124.000 patients under age 18.
Hew CHS leader named
Children's Home Society of NC, which
has placed more than 15,000 children into lov
ing. adoptive homes since 1902, has promoted
Brian Maness to president and CEO. He pre
viously served as vice president of Strategy
and Development at CHS.
Maness brings 12 years of experience to
his new position. He succeeds Ken Tutterow,
who passed away unexpectedly in January.
"Brian brings expe
nence in varied leader
ship positions and a
deep knowledge of the
Children's Home
Society. He has made
numerous important
contributions during his
12 years with the
agency," said Burns
Jones, chairman of the
CHS Board of Trustees.
"Brian shares Ken
Mantss
Tutterow's passion and vision for CHS, which
will enable him to help develop Ken's vision
for the organization. We are excited about fur
thering this vision for our organization that
Brian and so many others will help craft in the
coming years."
Maness is committed to fostering innova
tion within children and family services. He
has been instrumental in implementing new
and innovative programs, such as Family
Finding, which helps children in the child wel
fare system connect with extended networks
of biological relatives, and Child Specific
Recruitment, which tailors adoption recruit
ment efforts for children in foster care to the
specific needs of the child.
"1 am dedicated to building on the great
history CHS enjoys, and also to helping the
organization evolve to deepen our presence in
communities across the state with the greatest
need," Maness said. "I am so grateful to be
supported in this effort by the CHS staff and
Board of Trustees, who are so committed to
our mission and who work tirelessly to sup
port children and families."
A&T's
Nsonwu
helps
the UN
SPEClAl 1(1 Of CHRONICLE
Among the distressed peoples
of the world, few groups are more
vulnerable than refugees. And
among refugees, few are more vul
nerable than children, especially
children on their own, without
families.
Since 2011, the United States
has experienced a surge in the
number of unaccompanied chil
dren coming. from Central
America's Northern Triangle - El
Salvador, Guatemala and
Honduras - and Mexico. In fiscal
2013, there were more than
40,000.
More than
2 1.000
came from
the three
Central
American
countries,
compared
to 4,000 in
2011.
With
the cooper
ation of the
Dr. Nsonwu
United States, the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees
set out to learn why. The result was
a report, released this month,
"Children on the Run:
Unaccompanied Children Leaving
Central America and Mexico and
the Need for International
Protection."
For help with that analysis, the
U.N. agency consulted with Dr.
Maura Busch Nsonwu, assistant
professor of social work and inter
im director of the social work
bachelor's degree program at N.C.
A&T State University.
Dr. Nsonwu has worked with
the U.N.'s refugee agency on a
number of projects over the past
three years. Her research focuses
on refugees and human traffick
ing. She had conducted qualitative
studies, so she had the necessary
expertise. But this study had two
dimensions unlike anything she
had encountered.
The project was a daunting
one. The U.N. researchers had
interviewed 404 children. In a typ
ical academic study, researchers
from different institutions can
share data openly among their
team members. But they typically
don't have to consider the sensibil
ities of the U.S. government and
four Latin American governments
on an especially sensitive aspect of
a major political issue.
According to the report, while
recognizing differences between
the situation in Mexico and in
Central America, the common
denominator was that all four
countries are producing high num
bers of unaccompanied and sepa
rated children seeking protection
at the southern border Qf the
United States.
Dr. Nsonwu's analysis, along
with the entire research project,
was to determine the connection
between the children's stated rea
sons, the findings of recent studies
on the increasing violence and
insecurity in the region, and inter
national protection needs.
"This was absolutely huge,"
she said. "It challenged me as a
researcher, but this project was a
wonderful opportunity to be
involved in ground breaking work
with an agency that is so highly
respected."
II B Hiolos
(Above) 1FB Employee Tameka Monroe speaks with the Eye Bank's Dean Vavra and
Katie Hall. (Below) IEB Employee Demarius Bowens checks over donor registration
information.
IFB employees
sign-up as eye donors
SPECIAL TO THE
CHRONICLE
On Wednesday, March
19, blind and low-vision
employees at Winston
Salem Industries for the
Blind registered as eye
donors with the North
Carolina Eye Bank in
recognition of March as
National Eye Donor
Month.
The North Carolina
Eye Bank supports
research to restore sight,
and this research gives
promise to everyone who
is blind or visually
impaired. The donor drive
sent an important message
that everyone is eligible to
become an eye donor, even
if they have profound
vision challenges.
"When I was
approached about becom
ing an eye donor, 1 was
hesitant because I've been
blind since 1 was 21," said
Anastasia Powell, an IFB
employee who registered
during the drive. "What
changed my mind was
learning about the impor
tant research made possi
ble by the NC Eye Bank.
The doctors don't know
what caused my blindness,
but hopefully by donating
my eyes, researchers will
find the reason for my
blindness and help some
one else. Donating my
eyes is an opportunity to
give back and help
enhance the quality of
someone else's life."
"The North Carolina
Eye Bank is committed to
helping all North
Carolinians with vision
challenges, not just those
whose sight can be
restored through corneal
transplants," said Dean
Vavra, executive director
of The North Carolina Eye
Bank. "We are very grate
ful to the many employees
working at Winston-Salem
Industries for the Blind for
supporting our mission as
registered eye donors,"
IFB is a nonprofit cor
See IFB on A9
Report ranks county's healthiness
CHRONICLE STAFF kf PORT
The fifth annual County Health
Rankings & Roadmaps was released last
week by the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation and the University of
Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
It allows counties to see how well
they are doing on ZV tactors
that influence health, includ
ing smoking, high school
graduation rates, employ
ment. physical inactivity and
access to healthy foods. This
year's report features even
more new factors that influ
ence health, such as hous
ing. transportation, access to g
mental health providers, I
access to exercise opportu- I
nities. injury deaths and ?
food insecurity.
Rankings are done for
each county in each state in the nation
and aims to help counties see how they
compare to their neighbors so they can
identify where they are doing well and
where they need to improve, and the
Roadmaps help counties see what steps
they need to take to remove barriers to
good health.
Forsyth County ranked 26th among
the 100 counties of N.C. with regard to
Health Outcome status (length and quali
ty of life). Forsyth was 28th last year
Forsyth County ranked 29th among
North Carolina counties on Health
Factors (health behaviors, clinical care,
social and economic factors, and the
physical environment), compared to 24th
last year.
Forsyth County rankings in the fol
lowirvg indicators are:
? Health Behavior: 26th,
compared to 15th last year
? Clinical Care: 18th,
compared to 11th last year
? Socioeconomic Factors
(SEF): 36th, compared
to 44th last year
? Physical Environment:
64th. compared to 44th last
year.
There is a stronger corre
lation between health out
comes and SEF ranks, which
indicates that the strongest
predictors of better or poorer health sta
tus are better or poorer socioeconomic
conditions, respectively. The weaker cor
relation between health outcome and
clinical care rankings indicates that the
presence of quality care services in the
community does not necessarily result in
better health for the whole community.
"The goal of the Health Department is
to improve health in Forsyth County;
See Health on A7
HL *. flHH
Hunter
NCCU receiving $5 million from NSF
SPEOAl TOTHE CHRONICU
The National Science Foundation has
awarded the North Carolina Central
University Computational Center for
Fundamental and Applied Science and
Education a $5 million grant for develop
ment of interdisciplinary research activi
ties and research-based educational train
ing.
NCCU will receive $1 million per
year over five years to continue develop
ing the center, known as NSF
CREST, which was established in 2008.
U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a
Democrat who represents the state's First
District, was slated to present the first
payment on Tuesday, March 18 in
NCCU's Mary Townes Science Building.
NSF-CREST initially was established
with $5.7 million in NSF funding. The
ongoing grant will enable NCCU to
increase research infrastructure to sup
port additional science, technology, engi
neering and mathematics (STEM) train
ing and educational opportunities for stu
dents.
The long-term goals of NSF-CREST
are:
? To establish a world-class computa
tional research center in fundamental and
applied physical science
? To actively integrate independent
research and computational science into
undergraduate education
? To enhance the quality of master's
degree programs in science at NCCU
? To establish the HBCU
Computational Science Network.
J
G.K. Butierfield
PhotO
U.S. Rep.
G.K.
Butterfield
represents
the state's
First
District.