Oliver Jones

Prof. Meyer
Health 420: Internship
July 27, 2015
Social Determinants in Health:
Modern public health and its officers have recognized a variety of
social determinants of health that influence the type, variety, and need for
the services delivered through health systems. The access to medical care
and its subcategories are major social determinants as they have huge
factors with vital outcomes on health systems. My internship site,
Acceleration Sports Institute, and its programs, are directly impacted by
these determinants.
One important factor is the presence of services and its delivery
systems based on principles of equity and access. Acceleration Sports
Institute did not discriminate and welcomed all individuals to receive the
knowledge and skill sets of the well-educated staff members. These staff
members dedicated time to specifically help the needs of the individual.
Since the individuals are the clients, the staff aimed to help THEIR needs.
The variety of clientele allows Acceleration Sports Institute to be diverse and
specialize in a variety of programs, making the success of all individuals
important.
Although Acceleration Sports Institute does not directly discriminate
based upon age, gender, race, or financial standings, there were fees
associated with several of the programs offered, which dos make access to
many of its services much more difficult. However, Acceleration Sports
Institute does do certain discount in certain situations. For example, the
LoseWell program allows for 10 free visits or if Proaxis Physical Therapy
recommended you, then you could receive a 10% discount. These discounts
help make the programs and services offered more affordable to a wider
variety of people, but are still not totally inclusive.
Another major determinant is the establishment of health promotion,
instead of just episodic sick care. Acceleration Sports Institute serves partly
as a rehabilitation service outlet, but focuses mainly on the establishment of
health promotion. ASI promotes a healthy lifestyle through preventive health
care such as cardiovascular and respiratory fitness/endurance exercises
presenting the opportunity of a long-healthy life to all of those who choose to
be apart of the institute.
Organizational Behavior and Governance:
Acceleration Sports Institute has an outstanding staff, full of welleducated and experienced individuals. They care greatly about their clients,
but they are inhibited through one specific aspect of the organization.
Acceleration Sports Institute is located in Greenville, South Carolina, a rapidly

growing city, in an excellent location, less than a mile off of Interstate 385,
so it is easily accessible. Additionally, the organization is apart of the
Greenville Health System making it widely marketed and marketable.
However, its major downfall is the site and environment in which
Acceleration Sports Institute is located.
Acceleration Sports Institute is housed within the Steadman-Hawkins
Clinic of the Carolinas, which is an orthopedic treatment clinic, but there are
also many other offices within the same building. This makes it extremely
difficult for the trainers and clients of ASI to fully utilize the offerings of the
institute. For example, weights must always be put down silently and music
must only be played at a certain volume. The site is directly impeded by the
organizational culture, since all other companies in the building argue
silencing, thus members of ASI must behave in a certain manner and tasks
cannot be completed to their full potential. This discourages the staff, so a
change needs to be made.
Despite its current location, across the street from the office building,
in the same plaza, there is a large, overgrown field that could be constructed
into a facility for ASI. It would be useful for all parties involved to separate
into an indoor facility. Currently, many activities are forced to take place in
the parking lot outside, so an indoor facility would take away the weather
factor as well. Having a facility of this magnitude would allow for the amount
of clients to increase as well as the current prices to increase. GHS is a wellrespected Health System and I believe adding this important addition would
show the true impact of ASI on its surrounding population and the futuristic
focus of the Greenville Health System.
Health Administration Concentration:
LoseWell Medical Weight Management is a current 12-week program
provided by Greenville Health Systems that offers services, such as weekly
meetings with a dietitian, weight-management support meetings, and
biometric screenings. Since there is a great desire for this Medical Weight
Management program, the public is also looking for a healthy way to achieve
their desired lifestyle through exercise with the help of medical professionals.
Similar to the support meetings currently provided by LoseWell,
accountability group exercise classes would help continue the growth of both
Acceleration Sports Institute and the LoseWell program. Thus, the costeffective intervention I would make would be to implement these group
programs specifically for individuals suffering from obesity.
Acceleration Sports Institute has great success during the summer with
their 3-month summer athletes program, but has a reduced clientele in the
late fall and winter due to the start of school and season. However, if we
implemented specific classes in the fall and winter seasons as a part of the
LoseWell program, ASI would not be so dull during these times. By creating
classes available to large groups of people, the population would increase,
bringing in more money than usual. Additionally, the nature of group fitness

classes allows for only one staff member to run a class of many people, so
there would be huge room for profit.