North Carolina "Cheat Death" hospital wants community thinking disease prevention

GASTONIA, N.C. A North Carolina hospital that recently changed its name has also adopted a new slogan: "Cheat Death."

Gaston Memorial Hospital in Gastonia has become CaroMont Regional Medical Center and plans to work with restaurants to create "Cheat Death" menus and will work with gyms to create "Cheat Death" workouts. A social media campaign will offer tips on cheating death.

CaroMont CEO Randall Kelley says the hospital hopes to create a community health movement.

Gaston county recently ranked 81 out of 100 counties in N.C. for health, CBS affiliate WBTV in Charlotte, reported.

"To put it bluntly, we have a health-care crisis in Gaston County," Kelley told the station. "And to solve it, we're going to have to transition to an entirely new structure of delivering health care."

Kelley added in a hospital statement that he wants to shift the hospital's focus from a curing-the-sick mentality to one of preventing illness and injury as much as possible.

By engaging the community, he hopes a larger "Cheat Death" health movement will one day elevate Gaston County to the healthiest in the state.

But not everyone likes the new slogan, including county commissioner and hospital board member Jason Williams, who says it's a bad idea. Williams says the hospital's new marketing campaign needs a new, positive slogan.

He says some hospital employees think the "Cheat Death" slogan cheapens their work. He says some pastors consider the slogan blasphemous.