We would like to share the following community benefit news and resources with you.
May 5 Webinar on Health Care and Faith Community Partnerships
Today, 13 million older Americans need personal assistance or other supports. By mid-century, this number is expected to double. More than 80 percent live at home, cared for by family members and friends. Most frail elders can remain at home with adequate support and assistance. Part of that support and assistance can come from health care organizations themselves and from faith communities – parishes, churches, synagogues, mosques and other congregations.
This webinar will introduce CHA's new resource on faith community partnerships and accompanying video, and describe how health care organizations can work with faith communities to support older persons to help them stay at home, as healthy and independent as possible. Free for CHA members. Visit the CHA website for more information and to register.
June 11 Community Benefit Pre-Assembly Program – When Populations Become the Patient
While there is growing consensus that health care organizations have an important role in addressing the social determinants of health, several barriers stand in the way of organizations fulfilling this role. In his Jan/Feb 2017 Health Progress article, "When Populations Become the Patient," Michael Rozier, SJ, calls on the Catholic health ministry to lead the way in building the social structures that allow everyone in our communities to flourish.
This year's community benefit pre-Assembly program will feature an expert panel that will discuss the barriers and possible solutions for the Catholic health ministry fully embracing its potential to influence the health of communities. The program will also spotlight organizations that are addressing social factors and structures to improve community health. Visit the CHA website for more information and to register.
Improving Community Health by Strengthening Community Investment
In March, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a report, Improving Community Health by Strengthening Community Investment: Roles for Hospitals and Health Systems, that features examples of health systems and hospitals that are pioneering less traditional, more strategic approaches to addressing the root causes of poor health in their communities. The report also introduces a framework for community improvement that can help cultivate common ground between those who have long participated in community development outside health care institutions, and those within health care institutions who are now discovering the potential impact of community improvements on health.
ACHI Releases Revised CHNA Toolkit
The Association for Community Health Improvement (ACHI) has recently released its revised Community Health Assessment Toolkit. This web-based tool offers a nine-step pathway to guide and support a robust, community-engaged health assessment process. The toolkit addresses the full cycle from assessment through implementation, providing strategies for each step of the process and a wealth of resources, including The Guide to Community Preventive Services and other sources of evidence-based interventions.
Addressing Public Health Crises: Suicide and Opioid Addiction are Preventable
Check out this recent HHS blog post that identifies several resources to help address suicide and opioid addiction.
Webinar on Community Guide and Community Health Improvement
Join the Public Health Foundation (PHF) and the Association for Community Health Improvement on Monday, May 1, 2017, from 3 to 4 p.m. ET, for a webinar focused on taking action in support of community health improvement.
Featuring two communities participating in the Using The Community Guide for Community Health Improvement pilot initiative, this webinar will offer an overview of the initiative to date and highlight stories of those participating. Led by WellSpan Health (York, Pa.) and INTEGRIS Health (Oklahoma City), coalitions involving numerous stakeholders in both communities have been using the population health driver diagram framework to take action and implement community health improvement activities to address behavioral health needs. Representatives from WellSpan Health and INTEGRIS Health will share their experiences with the initiative over the past year, including successes and lessons learned.
This webinar is free and open to all who are interested. For more information or to register, please visit the PHF website or contact Janelle Nichols at [email protected].
Community Health Records – A National Call
In a recent commentary in the American Journal for Public Health, Deryk Van Brunt, president of the Healthy Communities Institute, a Conduent Company, and with the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, calls for action to define and implement community health records (CHRs).
Van Brunt sees CHRs as key to improving the effectiveness of community health improvement efforts, "CHRs contain data about communities, including the social, physical and lifestyle determinants of health. These records will serve to complement electronic and personal health records to provide a more complete view of population health, allowing stakeholders to target community health and quality-of-life interventions in a data-driven and evidence-based manner, establishing the basis from which organizations can develop a systematic approach to improving community health."
June 9 – Hospitals Against Violence Day
Violence is a major public health and safety issue throughout the country. Community action programs, like the ones being undertaken by hospitals and health systems (in partnership with others in their communities), are needed now more than ever to help address violence and the toll it takes on our communities and health care colleagues.
On Friday June 9, Hospitals Against Violence Hope (#HAVhope) will shine a spotlight on national, state and local efforts to help end violence in our communities, and to help hospital employees cope with the impact of violence – whether at home, on the job or in their neighborhoods. How can you help spread the word? Share on social media what your community is doing to address violence. For more information view the digital toolkit on the American Hospital Association's website.
Upcoming CHA Events
Registration is now open for the following CHA programs. Use the links below for more information and to register.
Elders and Faith Community Partnerships, May 5, 2017, at 3 p.m. ET, webinar
What Counts as Community Benefit, May 24, 2017, at 3 p.m. ET, webinar
Pre-Assembly Community Benefit Program: Leading the Way to Healthier Communities
June 11, 2017, from 8 a.m. to noon
Hilton New Orleans Riverside, New Orleans
Community Benefit 101: The Nuts and Bolts of Planning and Reporting Community Benefit
Oct. 3-4, 2017
Chase Park Plaza Hotel, St. Louis
Community Benefit in the News
Recent articles from Catholic Health World and Health Progress featuring community benefit news and programs from the across the ministry