When most of us think about healthcare, we think about a hospital. We think about doctors and nurses, emergency rooms and operating rooms, hospital beds and the technology that helps save lives.
But some of the most important work of improving health happens long before someone enters a hospital, and often far beyond its doors.
As someone who was born and raised in Pensacola, I have seen firsthand how much this community values looking after its neighbors. As the leader of the Ascension Sacred Heart Health System, I believe our responsibility is to carry that spirit into everything we do.
October is Mission Month at Ascension, the perfect time to reflect on how that impacts our approach to healthcare.
Our faith-based Mission calls us to care for the whole person and the whole community. That means treating illness when someone is sick, but also addressing the circumstances that can make it harder for people to stay healthy in the first place.
Sometimes the barrier is transportation. Sometimes it is the cost of a prescription. Sometimes it is not having enough nutritious food at home. Sometimes it is simply not knowing where to turn for help.
If we want to truly improve the health of our community, healthcare cannot stop at the hospital doors.
We saw that principle in action recently at our Medical Mission at Home at the Brownsville Community Center. Nearly 200 people from our community received free health screenings and exams, fresh produce, eyeglasses, and other resources. Hundreds of Ascension Sacred Heart associates and volunteers came together to provide care where people live, work and gather.
There is something especially meaningful about bringing care into a neighborhood. It reflects the legacy of the Daughters of Charity, who brought healthcare to Pensacola more than a century ago. Their example reminds us that caring for a community has never meant simply waiting for people to come to us. It means meeting people where they are.
That same philosophy guides our work to make essential medications more accessible.
For someone living paycheck to paycheck, the cost of a prescription can be the difference between managing a chronic condition and ending up in the hospital. Through the Dispensary of Hope, Ascension works with pharmaceutical manufacturers to make donated essential medications available to people who are uninsured or underinsured.
Removing that barrier is healthcare, too.
So is helping an expectant mother overcome the challenges that can keep her from receiving prenatal and postpartum care.
Northwest Florida faces real challenges in maternal and infant health, and geography and transportation can make those challenges even harder for some families. Our Telehealth Maternity Care Program, launched in partnership with the Florida Department of Health, connects expectant mothers with care and dedicated patient navigators who can help them access resources ranging from transportation and nutrition counseling to medical devices and other support.
The goal is straightforward: make it easier for mothers and babies to get the care they need, when they need it.
The same is true when it comes to food.
We know that healthy food is not simply a lifestyle choice. For families facing food insecurity, and for people managing conditions such as diabetes and other chronic diseases, access to nutritious food can directly affect health outcomes.
Through partnerships with organizations including Manna Food Pantries, Feeding the Gulf Coast and local farmers, we have established food pantries and the "Produce Rx" program to provide fresh, nutritious food to those managing chronic conditions.
We aren't just treating what brings someone into a hospital today. We are helping address some of the factors that can determine whether they remain healthy tomorrow.
And sometimes, improving health means helping people respond to an emergency before a patient ever reaches a hospital.
Earlier this summer, we partnered with Visit Pensacola to launch the Summer Safe Pensacola Series, equipping frontline hospitality workers with lifesaving skills such as hands-only CPR and Stop the Bleed training. These workers are often among the first people to respond when something goes wrong in our public spaces, hotels, restaurants and attractions.
If healthcare is only what happens after someone arrives in an emergency department, we are thinking too narrowly.
Healthcare can also mean giving a neighbor the knowledge and confidence to perform CPR. It can mean making sure a mother has access to prenatal care. It can mean helping someone afford the medication they need or providing fresh food to a family managing a chronic illness.
This is what it means to live our Mission beyond the hospital walls.
In fiscal year 2025, Ascension Sacred Heart provided more than $160 million in community benefits and other community contributions, including care for people facing financial hardship. That number represents resources, but more importantly, it represents a commitment: to be present not only when our neighbors are sick, but also in the places and circumstances that shape their health.
We are proud of the progress we have made, but we know there is more to do.
For more than a century, Ascension Sacred Heart has been part of the fabric of this community. The technology, programs and challenges we face may change, but our responsibility does not.
We will continue to meet people where they are, remove barriers that stand between them and the care they need, and work alongside our community partners to create a healthier Northwest Florida.
Because healthcare doesn't stop at the hospital doors.
It begins with caring for our neighbors wherever they are, and recognizing that when our community is healthier, we are all stronger together.
