The 2023 Digital Health Equity Champion award was presented to Kathy Schwarting, MHA, during the 11th Annual Telehealth Summit of South Carolina held this month in Greenville. The award recognizes an individual champion in the area of digital health equity education, advocacy, technology, and broadband on local and state levels. The purpose of this award is to recognize an individual or organization that has made impressive strides of impact to increase digital health equity in South Carolina.
Schwarting is the CEO of Palmetto Care Connections, a nonprofit organization that brings technology, broadband, and telehealth solutions to health care providers in rural and underserved areas in South Carolina. PCC hosts the Annual Telehealth Summit of South Carolina presenting state and national best practices and trends, as well as providing networking connections for health care, technology and broadband professionals.
CEO Kathy Schwarting is known for her passion for serving people in the rural counties of South Carolina. Her advocacy has brought access to healthcare to people living in the rural areas. She had the vision to bring forth a digital literacy initiative to help seniors learn how to use a tablet so that they can communicate better with family, meet with their doctor via telehealth, or play games to keep their minds active.
“Our primary resource for digital literacy advancements to go along with the huge efforts in investment in broadband infrastructure is the PCC digital literacy initiative,” said Dr. James T. McElligott, a pediatrician at the Medical University of South Carolina and a co-chair of the South Carolina Telehealth Alliance. “Folks are really stepping into the modern healthcare economy when they would otherwise probably not for their whole lives if it wasn’t for what they do.”