Session Descriptions
Practicing Evidence-based Community Health | Achieving Community Benefit Program Excellence | Creating Healthy Communities
(Conference Home)
Practicing Evidence-based Community Health
BREAKOUT SESSIONS (60 minutes)
- Applying Public Health Principles to Improve Clinical System and Community Outcomes of Cancer Screening in Immigrant Populations
Lisa Montouri Trimble, Cambridge Health Alliance, MA
This session will describe the initiative that Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), an integrated public health care system, undertook to improve mammography screening rates among its low income, ethnically diverse patients. The presenter will give an overview of the strategies used by the initiative to improve cancer screening outcomes for immigrant population, and ways to integrate public health principles to improve screening rates in clinical and community populations. The session will also share practices to improve the cultural competency of cancer screening programs and ways to incorporate community perspectives into health care for diverse ethnic groups.
In 2004, outreach services had been cut and staffing shortages and lack of coordination of clinical breast health services resulted in very low screening rates for patients, along with unacceptable delays from suspicious findings to treatment. Screening rates for both English and non-English speaking patients were at an all time low of 54% with the largest declines seen in the Haitian (49%), Latina (20%) and African American (28%) groups. The collaborative Breast Health Initiative utilized public health principles as a foundation to successfully improve clinical system outcomes for a large and diverse immigrant patient and community population and was later replicated to improve colon cancer screening rates. Two year mammography screening rates for immigrant women patients aged 52-69 increased 48% in six years. Colon cancer screening rates increased nine percent over two years.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to: 1) describe public health principles and their applicability to cancer screening outcomes in a clinical and community setting; 2) identify strategies to incorporate community health perspectives in clinical systems to improve cancer screening outcomes for underserved populations; 3) outline effective strategies to identify and address barriers to improving cancer screening; and 4) describe methods to make cancer screening outreach and education more culturally competent and relevant to different ethnic groups.
- The CHILD Project: Building Capacity within Public Schools to Get Children Health Coverage
Mandy Meloy, University of Wisconsin, Covering Kids & Families, WI
CHILD (Connecting Health Insurance to Lunch Data) began in response to the 98,000 children in Wisconsin who were uninsured for all or part of 2006. Realizing that awareness among eligible families remained incomplete and there are newly eligible families all of the time, CHILD seeks to develop capacity within Wisconsin’s public schools and create more efficient, effective, and sustainable ways to better identify and enroll children who are uninsured and eligible for Wisconsin’s SCHIP and BadgerCare Plus (BC+). Because schools are often the first resource for families and have a direct interest in the health of their students, they are natural partners to help reduce uninsurance among children.
The presenters will discuss how and why the partnership between a community/university based organization and the public schools began and is maintained, as well the inner workings of the CHILD model (methods, outreach strategies, school data collection, and more). The session will conclude by presenting quantitative and qualitative evaluation results, and by discussing findings and implementation strategies that session participants can adopt in their own communities and settings.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to: 1) explain why a community/university based organization partnered with public schools; 2) illustrate the CHILD model’s functional components and evaluation methods; 3) interpret the evaluation data; and 4) plan to use the CHILD model in their own communities.
- Engaging Faith Communities in Evidence-based Health Promotion
James White, Bemidji State University, MN
Janet Drechsel, RN, BSN, MeritCare Health System, ND
This session will examine the interest, growth, and influence of a multi-state, community- and faith-based health promotion program. Results from a research study of the program’s impact on individuals’ health will be discussed, and the presenters will provide practical insight into lessons learned about beginning and sustaining a highly adaptable, community-based intervention for both rural and urban settings.
Faithfully Fit Forever (FFF) is a multi-disciplinary, faith community-based health promotion program that encourages individuals to pursue psychological, spiritual, physical, and social well-being. Initially offered in 2000, this wellness program’s model is now offered in 200+ locations in 10 states. FFF is a non-denominational exercise and health promotion program that includes the individualized devotional beliefs of places of worship. The program includes exercise (aerobic, balance, etc.), health education, and time for spiritual growth. FFF integrates current science-based evidence to promote physical, intellectual, social, emotional and spiritual well-being. It is provided through faith communities by parish nurses and trained health promotion leaders.
Importantly, FFF has been the subject of a comprehensive study and four peer-reviewed publications. Exercise self-efficacy, depression and social support for exercise and health-related quality of life, as well as quantifiable measures of physical health (i.e. strength) and functional physical fitness (i.e. flexibility, balance), were assessed. Findings provide evidence of program effectiveness along psycho-social and physical health dimensions, and possibly in supporting prevention and/or optimal management of chronic disease.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will: 1) understand the history, growth and interest in faith community-based health promotion programming, and factors that influence health promotion participation and health outcomes; 2) be able to describe the components, processes, and mechanisms involved in creating, implementing and supporting a sustainable faith community-based health promotion program; and 3) understand effectiveness of this program by examining its assessment measures and outcomes.
- Healthy for Life: An Innovative Approach to Childhood Obesity
Marie-Hortence Prosper, St. Joseph Health System, CA
This session will share replicable program details of St. Joseph Health System’s (SJHS) implementation and expansion of the Healthy for Life/PE4ME program in schools across Orange County, CA. The program, launched by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in three schools in 2003, emphasizes lifelong fitness and healthy eating behaviors among children and adolescents. In partnering with AAP, SJHS and the SJHS Foundation have invested $3 million to expand the program to 100 public schools, and to facilitate the School Health Index assessment in these schools by 2011.
Participants will learn about several program components, including: classes that were specifically tailored for preschool, elementary, middle and high schools; screening physicals and progress assessments; and validation survey tools to assess students’ lifestyle behaviors and self-esteem. Results indicate that body mass index (BMI) decreased significantly for overweight or obese students, and that students demonstrated significant improvements in self-esteem and lifestyle behavior indicators. Healthy for Life has the potential to improve the health of underprivileged youth whose neighborhoods are unsafe and often lack facilities for exercise, while being a safe, accessible, no cost, and effective method to minimize the causal factors of obesity.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to: 1) identify three components of a successful school-based obesity intervention program; 2) identify three challenges of implementing a large-scale school-based obesity intervention program; and 3) describe how they would implement Healthy for Life in their local schools.
- Using a Primary Care Medical Home to Reduce Acute Chronic Medical Care
Pam Farnham and Randy Messier, Fletcher Allen Health Care, VT
This session will share how developing a replicable Medical Home Model of Care in its primary care practice sites is an important component of Fletcher Allen’s vision of being a national model for the delivery of high-quality academic health care for a rural region.
The Aesculapius Primary Care site is the pilot location implementing a coordinated array of existing and new resources to improve medical outcomes. This is done by shifting emphasis from acute care to partnering with patients with chronic conditions and their families as well as providing preventive care services in a primary care delivery setting. Prtesenter will describe the functioning of the cornerstone of this effort, the Community Care Team including a nurse, a medical social worker, an educator, a dietician, an exercise specialist at the YMCA, a behavioral health specialist, and a person from the Vermont Department of Health.
The session will describe how the pilot project is part of a statewide effort to significantly reform health care delivery toward paying for improved population health for all patients. The presenters will share an extensive evaluation that was developed to track patient outcomes, the early results of which have been positive. This effort is supported logistically and financially by all major commercial insurers, the state Health Department and Medicaid agency to positively influence the primary care delivery model for the state of Vermont.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to: 1) present the development steps for a comprehensive medical home delivery system; 2) describe the model’s operational and clinical components resulting in an integration of services that addresses chronic medical conditions and connects clients with community-based resources; and 3) present the evaluation criteria and objective performance measures used to measure clinical outcomes, patient and staff satisfaction, financial results, and challenges of a medical home project.
SKILL-BUILDING SESSIONS (90 minutes)
- Maximizing Value from Community Health Workers Programs
Carl Rush, Community Resources, TX
Community health workers (CHWs) are drawing increased interest from CMS, HRSA and the U.S. Department of Labor for their potential to improve quality of care, reduce disparities and help to control costs through improvements in health-related behaviors and knowledge, care-seeking behavior and adherence to treatment. Yet, many organizations have been unable to realize the full benefits of this emerging workforce due to limited understanding of its unique attributes.
This session will survey the "state of the art" in the CHW field regarding their range of roles and functions, successful management practices, and options for funding. It will convey a wealth of practical information to help participants plan, implement, or adjust their community health worker strategies. Community health workers are simply not like many other health professionals; thus, specialized approaches and attention must be paid to recruitment, training and supervision which may be very different from the organization's past experience.
The session will include: an introductory exercise on participants' level of knowledge in this field and their priority questions; facilitated dialogue on CHWs’ services and applications in a variety of settings; and a small group exercise on the pros and cons of CHW credentialing. Participants will receive: model CHW job descriptions and statements of core competencies; CHW training materials from a national project funded by the U.S. Dept. of Education; and reading lists on CHW training and national studies on the CHW field. The presenter is a nationally-recognized professional in the CHW field and a co-author of HRSA's CHW National Workforce Study (2007).
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to: 1) describe emerging national consensus on occupational definition, roles and functions of CHWs; (2) utilize successful practices in recruitment, selection and supervision of CHWs; and 3) identify and calculate measures of Return on Investment (ROI) for CHW services.
- Measuring Outcomes and Demonstrating Success for Community Health Programs
Rudeen Monte, Sutter Delta Medical Center, CA
This session will present a model for using community and health services data to identify, analyze and solve problems related to achieving better health outcomes for communities. The intent of community health assessments is to guide community health providers as they plan programs toward improving outcomes. Yet, we do not always demonstrate that our work is actually making things better.
This session will present how to select community health outcomes and methods based on not only the need but also our organization's capacity to deliver a program. The presentation guides participants through a step-by-step model for using data, examining our own capacity to deliver a program that will generate improvement, and then tell a compelling story to health stakeholders and the community.
Writing outcomes: Definitions and skills practice - Written definitions, worksheet used in small groups.
Measures: Where the data "lives" - Demonstration followed by small group practice with identifying measures appropriate to the outcome they have written and methods for where data could be obtained.
Problem solving for quality improvement: Presentation of steps, with examples, followed by practice with cause and effect analysis, setting program outcomes and data to be gathered for that measure.
By the conclusion of this session, participants will: 1) write a community health outcome and determine community-based and health services data to be used as measures for this outcome; 2) practice using a problem solving tool; and 3) write a brief logic model.
Achieving Community Benefit Program Excellence
BREAKOUT SESSIONS (60 minutes)
- The Accountability and Charitable Expectations of Nonprofit Hospitals: Recent Findings from Maryland
Bradford Gray, The Urban Institute and The Milbank Quarterly
Dr. Gray will present and discuss the impetus for and findings of new community benefit research he and Mark Schlesinger conducted in 2008 and published in the journals Health Affairs and Inquiry in the second half of 2009. Focused on Maryland’s non-profit hospitals and their reporting and organizational changes in response to state–level community benefit requirements that bear some resemblance to the new IRS Schedule H, he will share Maryland’s experience and draw important lessons for community benefit accountability and reporting nationally.
Specifically, Dr. Gray will examine:
- the allocation/distribution of community benefit expenses across different categories of spending;
- reasons for and the importance of variations among hospitals;
- the effects of the reporting requirement on hospitals’ approach to community benefit;
- characteristics of a “managerial” approach to community benefit;
- changes made by hospitals in relation to the reporting requirement; and
- policy implications for other states and federal level reporting.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to: 1) understand the similarities and differences between Maryland’s requirements and the new federal Schedule H; 2) describe ways in which and reasons for variations in community benefit reporting; 3) anticipate specific effects that reporting requirements may have on hospitals’ community benefit programs; and 4) list several policy implications of Schedule H community benefit reporting requirements.
- Community Benefit Journey to Excellence
Adelaide Buckner and Xavier Richardson, Mary Washington Healthcare, VA
In this session, Mary Washington Healthcare will share the experiences and tools used on their journey to move community benefit from an organizational outlier to core strategy.
We will discuss how we built a community benefit infrastructure by engaging the board of trustees and executive leadership, and by redesigning our community benefit department and staff positions. We will show the progression of changes made to an evolving community benefit table of organization as a result of community input. And we will highlight how we overcame the fear by senior executives of involving community representatives in each step of the process. We will describe the criteria used to choose internal leaders, and strategies for gaining their commitment. In particular, we will track the progress in engaging the medical staff.
During the session, we will share copies of our organization chart, board charter, organizational community benefit guiding principles, and community benefit steering committee, and its subcommittees’ charters and work plans. The session will include facilitated dialogue on how to overcome barriers you are experiencing in gaining board and senior leadership commitment and active involvement in developing and implementing the organization’s community benefit strategy.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will learn: 1) the process steps and education required to gain board and trustee oversight of community benefit; 2) how to overcome senior leadership fears of community input and participation; 3) the importance of institutionalizing community benefit though charters and policies; and 4) an effective infrastructure to mobilize the entire organization, including physicians.
- Determining the Value of Community Benefit Programs
Mary Kay VanDriel, Value Health Partners, MI
Come learn how Value Health Partners (VHP), a strategic alliance among eight leading health systems in Michigan covering 61 of the state’s 83 counties, is working collaboratively on community program best practices. The community program work has included writing a community health improvement philosophy for all members, developing a methodology to approve programs, and a tool to determine the value of existing programs. The focus in Washington, DC is on health reform, which includes reconstructing how health care is financed. Given that the not-for profit status of hospitals will be scrutinized, there is an opportunity and a need to demonstrate their value to the organization and community.
VHP is aligning community programs to replicate best practices. One of its first accomplishments was to create a methodology to approve programs. Each member organization is using a similar set of criteria. In this session the learner will be exposed to the executive-level thinking about strategically aligning community programs. Most organizations have existing programs that they have funded. VHP also developed and tested a tool to assess the value of existing programs. A consistent tool applied to each program gives the community health leader the necessary information when considering program development, funding and measurement.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to: 1) describe the current fiscal crisis and Washington’s scrutiny with the need to demonstrate community benefit in the non profit systems; 2) describe our methodology and rationale for assessing value when considering a community program; and 3) describe the methodology to critique currently funded programs.
SKILL-BUILDING SESSIONS (90 minutes)
- Collaborating with Local Public Health Departments to Enhance Community Benefit Programs
Connie Evashwick, Saint Louis University, MO
Douglas Scutchfield, PhD, University of Kentucky
Many people working in hospital community benefit programs are not aware of the impending criteria for the accreditation of local public health departments (LHDs), and the extent to which they are similar to community benefit activities as defined by the IRS in the new Form 990 Schedule H.
This session will walk participants through the rationale and opportunities for collaboration between hospitals and local public health departments, approaches for initiating joint programming, and methods for evaluating the success from the standpoint of the hospital, the LHDs, and the community.
The session will compare community benefit activities delineated by the IRS with activities required of local public health departments by the new Public Health Accreditation Board standards. The presenters will contrast the governance and reporting structures of hospitals and LHDs, and discuss implications for how staff can initiate collaborative ventures, and potential barriers to collaboration and ways to overcome them.
The session will also discuss evaluation methods, data, and criteria for determining and communicating the results of collaborative efforts in achieving the goals of each organization, as well as improving the overall health of the community. Logic models and publicly available data sets will be analyzed for their relevancy for local use. Examples of existing collaborative efforts provided will include joint community needs assessments, community-wide health education programs, and screenings. Participants will be asked to complete worksheets that help them analyze the situation in their own community, and identify specific ways in which they can foster collaboration between the hospital and the LHD, with a Commitment to Action to solidify practical application.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to: 1) describe the new health department standards of the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB); 2) delineate programs on which the LHDs and hospital CB programs can collaborate to the benefit of both; 3) explain the processes that hospitals would use to develop joint programs with LHDs, including approaches to governing boards and government public policies; and 4) identify evaluation methods and data available and relevant to both types of organizations to evaluate collaborative outcomes.
- Using the IRS Form 990 Schedule H to Tell our Story, Improve our Programs, and Better Serve our Communities
Doug Lyon, President, Lyon Software, OH
Julie Trocchio, Senior Director, Catholic Hospital Association, DC
This session will discuss the opportunity the 990 H and health reform gives non-profit hospitals to tell their community benefit story, improve their community benefit programs, better serve their communities and involve their organizations' leadership in community benefit. For those working on Schedule H, this session will provide an overview of Schedule H issues and expert guidance on difficult areas of Schedule H and discuss how Schedule H can be used as a springboard to improve programs. Feedback from hospitals on successes, best practices and lessons learned will be covered.
Topics will include: How to tell your community benefit story on Schedule H, including how to collect needed information, knowing what should not be reported, accounting issues, and how to answer the open ended questions in part VI; improving community benefit programs through community assessment, program planning and evaluation; and how to involve executive and board leaders in the Schedule H and the community benefit programs.
At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to: 1) assess their preparation for filing Schedule H; 2) learn whether they are inclusding and exclusing programs and expenditures appropriately; 3) learn about Schedule H successes, best practices and lessons other hospitals; 4) identify how Schedule H can be used to help improve programs and community health; and 5) identify basic auditing and due diligence procedures for Schedule H information.
- Cultivating External Partners as a Strategy in Achieving Your Hospital's Community Benefit Goals
Christopher Palombo, Ascension Health, MO
Cathy Maxwell, Chief Advocacy Officer, St. Joseph Health System
Joy Tapper, Executive Director, Milwaukee Health Care Partnership
Paul Westrick, Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital
As nonprofit hospitals seek to achieve their community benefit goals, often they have untapped assets in the form of external community partners that can participate in reaching shared goals. New relationships with external partners will require collaborative planning, the development of a business case, clear goals, inter-agency trust, and the execution of program operations.
To assist in cultivating hospital partners, this session will share the community-level experience of health systems which sought external assistance in achieving community benefit goals. Participants in the workshop will leave the session with a clear understanding of how one national health system imbedded assessment, collaborative planning, gap filling, and operational development into its Community Benefit work. Participants will be offered direction on how to apply these learnings in their own communities. This session will feature a “toolbox” of sample tools used to capture and describe agency-to-agency partnership. It will also feature an audience-to-panel discussion.
At the conclusion of this session: 1) hospital leaders will be given a perspective on the community benefit activities that can best be accomplished through community-wide partnerships; 2) non-hospital leaders will be given a clearer understanding of the community benefit goals of their local nonprofit hospitals; and 3) both hospital and non-hospital leaders will learn about some of the common communication and goal differences between institutional healthcare providers and community-level organizations, as well as strategies to cultivate trust and shared goal creation.
Creating Healthy Communities
BREAKOUT SESSIONS (60 minutes)
- HealthWorks! Kids' Museum: Imagination, Education, and a Healthier Generation
Rebecca Zakowski, RN, Chief Infection Agent, Memorial Health Works! Kids Museum, Memorial Hospital South Bend, IN
Laura Garvey, RN, Conductor of Creative Chaos, Memorial Health Works! Kids Museum, Memorial Hospital South Bend, IN
Memorial's HealthWorks! Kids' Museum opened its doors ten years ago, promising a whole new approach to health education, and Memorial has delivered on that promise. HealthWorks!' purpose statement is ' Infectiously contaminating kids of all ages to learn, have fun, and make great life choices… let the epidemic begin.' Over 800,000 'kids of all ages' have experienced HealthWorks! interactive and evidence-based education programs, and a second HealthWorks! opened in Tupelo, MS in 2009.
HealthWorks! specializes in making learning fun; all of the HealthWorks! programs feature multiple interactive learning demonstrations. During this session, the audience will be out of their seats and involved in experiencing some of these demonstrations in a hands-on (and adult-audience appropriate) way. In addition, attendees will get to see what words cannot describe through a short video segment and photos of both HealthWorks! facilities.
The HealthWorks! team has undergone a profound 'learning journey' through 10 years of striving to reach kids in ways that impact. A strong brand known as 'the HealthWorks! spirit' has evolved and permeated into other aspects of the way Memorial serves the community. This interactive session will share HealthWorks! incredible journey with participants, including important lessons learned and ways the HealthWorks! program can be replicated in other communities. Results of evaluation and pedagogy studies will also be shared.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will: 1) be able to describe the HealthWorks! Kids' Museum program; 2) identify specific ways HealthWorks! serves its community; 3) describe how Memorial has applied lessons from HealthWorks! to other initiatives; and 4) be able to apply 'lessons learned' by HealthWorks! to their own health education initiatives and explain how it can be replicated.
- Implementing a Health Initiative Grant Program in the Community
Kahla Hall, Community Benefits Program Officer
Michelle Brooks, Vice President of Community Benefit and Government Affairs, University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina, NC
This session will explain why and how University Health Systems (UHS) created a grants program that gives local non-profits and government agencies the resources and support to implement health-enhancing ideas and programs directly in the community setting.
UHS established the Community Benefits and Health Initiatives grants program through its flagship hospital, Pitt County Memorial Hospital (PCMH), in 1998. To begin, PCMH gathered local leaders, including the local health department and the Healthy Carolinians task force, to identify the community's most urgent health care needs. PCMH then made a financial commitment of $1 million to support the grants program via initiatives that promote early detection of disease, wellness and prevention initiatives, and direct healthcare services. These programs take place in churches, civic and community centers, schools, boys and girls clubs, and other community venues.
After seven years of successful programming through PCMH, University Health Systems created a “Regional Community Benefits Grants Program” by replicating the program model in the health system's smaller, community-based hospitals. This session will describe how to develop and implement a hospital sponsored, community-based grants program that improves the health of the community through ideas and initiatives implemented by local non-profits and grassroots organizations.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will understand the: 1) the importance of local community involvement; 2) how to obtain Board involvement and support; and 3) grant program implementation and management.
- Multi-Sector Approach to Building Healthy Neighborhoods
Eric Baumgartner, Louisiana Public Health Institute, LA
Timolynn Sams, Neighborhood Partnership Network
Bobbie Hill, Concordia, Inc.
This session will describe the Orleans Neighborhood Health Implementation Plan, the primary goal of which is to mobilize and provide tools for communal action to promote more deliberate health at the neighborhood level.
The project focuses on enabling post-Katrina New Orleans residents to produce healthy neighborhoods through cross-sector alignment to generate healthy, sustainable community solutions. Its goals include: supplying recommendations/tools for neighborhood health governance; establishing guidelines for neighborhood clinics/wellness centers; implementing web-based, reliable, easily-interpretable data concerning healthy neighborhood indicators; and providing updated, web-based neighborhood mapping resources in their neighborhood that contribute to health and sustainability. The intended outcome is a healthier and more sustainable New Orleans through interaction among better informed, equipped, and inspired neighborhood residents.
The project team is comprised of leading entities in urban planning and design, neighborhood organizing, and urban and population health. The session will explain how each partner organization's respective expertise is critical to creating healthy neighborhoods across a city, and how the neighborhood communities are engaged in every aspect of the planning process. The presenters will address the critical importance of outreach and meeting the most basic of needs, the multi-faceted evaluation, and participation of citizens in a Capacity College. The presenters will also provide tools and outcomes of these activities will be shared in a manner in which they can adapt them for their own communities.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to: 1) describe the purpose of program website; 2) describe the neighborhood tools and how created through community engagement; and 3) understand the role of the Capacity College.
- Multiple Benefits to Youth Health and Health Workforce Development from an Adolescent Advocacy & Mentoring Program
Lynn Sherman and Michael Lanier, Baptist Health Jacksonville, FL
This session will present a highly successful but uncommon approach to addressing very common health and healthy communities challenges. Come learn about a true healthy communities investment that not only supports youth development, but also improves health and helps nurture the healthcare workforce of tomorrow.
"Tipping the Scale" (TTS) is a mentoring program that has been recognized as a national best practice. Its mission is to guide high risk adolescents to discover personal strengths and establish goals which lead to high school graduation, higher education and/or successful employment. Over 950 ninth to twelfth grade students have been served by TTS over the past eleven years, with a high school graduation rate of greater than 90 percent. Virtually all have gone on to college, the military or employment. The presenters will share not only the youth development and employment aspects of the initiative, but also the use of case managers and the program’s impacts on youth and family health and well-being.
The emphasis of this presentation, by mentors and a student, will be on research-based best practices for mentoring, specific program structure and processes that have contributed to success, and funding/community support strategies that can be replicated by other programs. Presentation will include presentation, video, facilitated dialogue and the opportunity to interact with the panel.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to: 1) relate the impact of an effective adolescent employment/mentoring program on both individual adolescents and the community at large; 2) discuss key components of a successful adolescent mentoring program; and 3) discuss how broad-based community support of an adolescent mentoring program contributes to its long-term success and sustainability.
- Shaping our Community to Make the Healthy Choice the Easy Choice
Laura Aiken, WakeMed Health System, NC
Advocates for Health in Action, a community collaborative of 40 organizations concerned with increasing access to healthy foods and physical activity, has made a significant impact on policy and environmental issues in Wake County, North Carolina and beyond. This session will showcase our community assets mapping project which utilizes GIS technology and the involvement of youth to facilitate healthy changes in neighborhoods.
This session will discuss how healthy snacking policies for youth have made a significant and lasting impact on our entire community. This program has successfully used social marketing to attract a broad base of advocates for healthful eating and physical activity issues, and for general education on ways to practice a healthier lifestyle. The presenters will also discuss the extensive work they have done to educate parents on ways to make a difference in their schools through projects such as community gardens, outdoor classrooms, healthy fundraising, and school wellness committees. For more information about our collaborative, visit www.advocatesforhealthinaction.org.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will: 1) understand why policy and environmental change are the most effective ways to support a healthy lifestyle; 2) learn how community asset mapping in partnership with community involvement can be used as a powerful advocacy and education tool; 3) learn the varying levels of policy impact from small organizations to legislative policy, and the benefits of and how to break down barriers to implement policies; and 4) leave with at least five concrete ideas that can be implemented in their communities.
- Using Community Balanced Scorecards to Manage Public Health Strategy
Donna Sines, Community Vision, FL
Belinda Johnson-Cornett, Osceola County Health Department
How often do community partners come away from meetings without a clear understanding of their role in addressing the issue at hand, whether they even have a role, or the role of other partners? A community's ability to address vitally important health issues depends in large part on the effectiveness of the partners in taking ownership of what they can contribute. A Community Balanced Scorecard offers a unique method in which there is strategy alignment between the partners in order to achieve faster, measurable results and to ensure mutual accountability. In other words, the Community Balanced Scorecard is a way to leverage assets from collaborative partners for shared results.
The presenters will describe the Osceola County Health Department's experience as one of five public health organizations nationwide selected to work with community partners and the Results That Matter Team to develop a "Strategy Map" for a community health issue. The session also will describe the partners’ progression to a more complete Community Balanced Scorecard, including how performance measures and initiatives were developed, alignment with the community’s vision, and the resulting health summit attended by all health-related CEOs. Transferable lessons include steps in developing strategy maps, and for determining meaningful performance measures and initiatives for a Community Balanced Scorecard.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will: 1) understand how strategy maps describe a logical progression to addressing community health issues; 2) describe how community partnerships can benefit from using balanced scorecards as a way to leverage assets and ensure shared accountability; and 3) understand how to apply the lessons learned to address a health issues in their own communities.
- Using County Health Rankings to Impact Community Health
Julie WillemsVanDijk, Univ. of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, WI
The session will share a new health information resource, a nationwide County Health Rankings tool. Created by the Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health (MATCH) project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the initiative is designed to: increase awareness of the many factors that contribute to the health of communities; foster engagement among public and private decision makers to improve community health; develop incentives to encourage coordination across sectors for community health improvement, and; create innovative approaches to sharing the results of community health improvement efforts.
The County Health Rankings, to be released online in February 2010, compile data for every county in all 50 states on health outcomes and health determinants, incluiding health outcomes and multiple health determinants. Health determinants represent a county’s “health risk” or predictor of future health, while health outcomes serve as an assessment of current health. The counties within each state are ranked separately on health outcomes and health determinants, so counties can use the results as a summary of current health and potential future health in their communities.
This session will discuss the design and content of the Rankings report, as well as examples of community engagement to affect determinants of health formulated in response to the report. In addition, the presenter will challenge participants to make a commitment to engage in a response to their own community's ranking report.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to: 1) describe the health outcome and health determinant model used in the County Health Rankings; 2) describe how the release of the county health rankings increases awareness of the multiple determinants of health; 3) identify opportunities for public awareness and multi-sector partner engagement in addressing community health issues; and 4) commit to using the results of their county's ranking to drive community engagement around a community health issue.
SKILL-BUILDING SESSIONS (90 minutes)
- Addressing Health Inequities: One System's Approach
Eileen Barsi and Debbie Hull, Catholic Healthcare West, CA
The important work of community benefit calls for a conscious but subtle shift in the way we approach health care and interact with our communities. It is a shift from working soley within the hospital's primary service area to working with the broader surrounding community where there are unmet health needs; from treating the private patient to treating the health of a population; from offering ad hoc services and activities to coordinated programming; from proprietary planning and implementation to collaborative decision making and action; and from basic charity care to a system of sustainable community health improvement.
Following an interactive session, a discussion of this approach will be complemented by a presentation of the actual programming response of one Catholic Healthcare West service area, utilizing an actual demographic assessment of a community (Bakersfield), including socio-economic and service utilization data.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to: 1) identify the community benefit strategy Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) initiated to identify disproportionate unmet health-related needs; 2) gain knowledge about the strategic steps taken to fully engage facility management and operations; and 3) understand the evidence-based program approach CHW facilities have applied to address health disparities.
- Becoming a More Effective Community Health Partner & Advocate
Walter Denero, University of Georgia Fanning Leadership Center, GA
In keeping with the adage: "You can’t teach a person anything – you can only help him/her discover it within themselves," this session is designed to allow participants to look at previous attained knowledge and skills in different ways. The session will ask participants to take a look at three key areas: (1) Mastery of Self; (2) Mastery of Relationships; and (3) Mastery of Action.
Mastery of Self involves answering the question: “What kind of leader, partner, manager, administrator, advocate, worker, etc. am I?” Master of Relationships discusses the concept that no matter how “good,” dedicated, charismatic, etc. a person might be, he/she can seldom make a major impact within an organization or community working alone or independently. Success often depends on building and maintaining positive relationships with others. Mastery of Action will assist participants in forming a personal action plan.
This session will provide lessons learned, new insights and time to reflect on your own organizations and communities. Participants will be challenged to begin the process of identifying ways they can follow-up and put into action the knowledge gained and the skills developed during the ACHI conference.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will: 1) gain new insights into themselves as community health leaders, partners, managers, administrators and advocates and/or workers; 2) gain new insights into the skills needed to partner and collaborate with others to ensure that community health ranks high on their own organizations’ and communities’ agenda; and 3) be influenced and motivated to assume a leadership role in working with others in developing and implementing an individual and personal action plan.
- Mobilizing Youth Assets for Community Health
Nadine Rubie, Ameera Hosein, and Chezlie Alexander, Bramalea Community Health Center, Ontario, Canada
This interactive skill-building session will convey specific skills, strategies and tools to build individual and community health from an asset-based perspective. The session will begin with an overview of asset-based community development principles, and how they can be applied to address determinants of health, illustrating with the presenters’ documentation of youth assets. By adapting a Capacity Inventory (CI) tool created by John McKnight John Kretzmann of the ABCD Institute at Northwestern University, we documented the skills and capacities of our local youth. Participants will be asked to complete an online CI tool prior to the session, to analyze our collective asset trends. This hands-on experience will help attendees use this tool later in their own work.
The session will close with specific strategies to mobilize around identified community assets. This includes discussions of how to engage community residents and other stakeholders to take action on their strengths and individual capacities. We also will identify ways to connect meaningfully with non-health sector stakeholders such as community colleges, local businesses, and grassroots groups. This interactive session will utilize a pre-session exercise, along with small and large group discussion.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will: 1) have increased knowledge of Asset Based Community Development and its application in improving community health; 2) have participated in a hands-on learning experience with the Capacity Inventory tool ; 3) learn strategies to mobilize youth and non-health sector stakeholders; and 4) learn skills for analyzing and utilizing asset trends.
