AHA Community Health Improvement (ACHI)

AHA Community Health Improvement (ACHI) / en Fri, 01 Aug 2025 14:53:09 -0500 Wed, 11 Jun 25 07:42:18 -0500 Community Health Improvement Week | Center /center/community-health-improvement-week Mon, 09 Jun 2025 07:00:00 -0500 AHA Community Health Improvement (ACHI) An Ecosystem Approach to Health Across Michigan Communities /advancing-health-podcast/2025-06-11-ecosystem-approach-health-across-michigan-communities To celebrate Community Health Improvement (CHI) Week, June 9 – June 13, two experts from Corewell Health share how an impactful health care ecosystem model is supporting local Michigan communities, and why creating region-specific programs, from school-based clinics to school nursing initiatives, has been effective for improving community health.Visit <a href="/center/community-health-improvement-week">/center/community-health-improvement-week</a> to learn more about the work hospitals and health systems are doing for their communities.<hr><div></div><div class="raw-html-embed"><details class="transcript"> <summary> <h2 title="Click here to open/close the transcript."> View Transcript </h2> </summary> 00:00:01:04 - 00:00:31:25 Tom Haederle Welcome to Advancing Health. An increasing number of hospitals today are part of a larger health system. How can the big systems support the mission of their local member hospitals, while avoiding a one size fits all approach that may not work for everyone? As we recognize Community Health Improvement Week, we learn more about Michigan-based Corewell Health's approach, from tactical support to collaborative community partnerships that helps each hospital or health system be the best it can be. 00:00:31:27 - 00:00:54:23 Andrew Jager My name is Andrew Jager at the AHA. Today, it's my pleasure to be joined by two colleagues from Corewell Health in Michigan. With me we have Dr. Corey Smith and Vanessa Briggs. Today, as part of Community Health Improvement Week, we're going to talk a little bit about the role of a health system in supporting hospitals to maintain a really robust process in identifying and understanding the health needs of the local communities that they serve. 00:00:54:26 - 00:01:09:14 Andrew Jager Now, I'd like to turn to our guest to hear a little bit about how you see the role of health systems like Corewell Health in supporting local hospital offers to identify, understand and to address community health needs. Starting with Vanessa, how do you see the role of Corewell in this? 00:01:09:17 - 00:01:45:24 Vanessa Briggs That's a really great question. And some of the lessons I think, that we've learned here at Corewell Health. It really does take a collaborative process. And that really requires diverse voices and perspectives and lived experiences, because that engagement process is really critical, because we think about -when we do CHNA - as an ecosystem. And an ecosystem model that can be replicated across all three regions, given the spanned and reach that Corewell Health has within Michigan. 00:01:45:27 - 00:02:29:05 Vanessa Briggs And so our CHNA ecosystem is made up of public health partners, health and human service organizations, community based organizations, as well as community advocates. And we also include our Corewell Health local community board representatives and health professionals that have local but yet regional specific insight into the needs that are happening and needed within community. And so when we work alongside all of those individuals, when we call our ecosystem, it really allows us to deliver programs and work alongside our community to engage throughout the entire process for the CHNA. 00:02:29:07 - 00:02:40:04 Andrew Jager I love that, Vanessa, really taking that ecosystem approach and then intentionally bringing in those local community voices to create that strong effort. Corey, what would you add to Vanessa's response? 00:02:40:06 - 00:03:03:02 Corey Smith, Ph.D. Well, the one thing I would add is, for a health system like Corewell Health, it can be sometimes easy to think, given our size, that we are kind of the main actor in a space. Right? And I think it's important, especially at the regional level, at the local level, to remember the kind of the legacy and positionality that some of these local hospitals have in their communities and that they are a part of the fabric. 00:03:03:02 - 00:03:30:00 Corey Smith, Ph.D. Right. And so I think in some of our regions, and one of the things that we're trying to lift up as best practice is to be conduct doing the needs assessment process as part of a collective, right, a collective group in collaboration with public health departments, with local organizations, with school districts and other stakeholders that have some interest and where it's relevant for them to be aware of and participating in the process of defining community health needs, 00:03:30:00 - 00:03:30:18 Corey Smith, Ph.D. right? 00:03:30:20 - 00:03:55:13 Andrew Jager Yeah, I love that sort of intentionality of recognizing the true complexity across the communities, the legacy, different perspectives, and the intentionality of bringing all those together in a process is great. So moving on to that process, I guess I'd ask Vanessa, you know, from the system level, what would you say are some of the most important resources or tools that that you can use to support that local priority identification? 00:03:55:15 - 00:04:22:08 Vanessa Briggs Yeah. At Corewell we firmly believe that technical support to help prioritize and help our local hospitals and stakeholders. It really has to align all focus areas effectively. And so having that technical support that Corey's team actually provides for my team in healthier communities is critical to the success. And that's a huge resource that's beneficial to us. 00:04:22:10 - 00:04:28:18 Vanessa Briggs And I'm sure Corey has some other examples that that he would like to share in terms of some resources as well. 00:04:28:21 - 00:04:44:24 Andrew Jager Yeah, I'd love to hear Corey's thoughts, especially around, you know, what do you think about when you try to balance standardization across the hospitals in your health system and data collection, reporting, etc., with the flexibility that local teams really need to to get at those needs and address them in a local way? 00:04:44:26 - 00:05:16:09 Corey Smith, Ph.D. Yeah, it's one of the main tensions that we wrestle with, right? And it can be enticing to want to go with standardizing across systems. Right. It's simpler. You know you can feel like you're focusing, but when you bring it to local stakeholders, it can feel misaligned with what they actually need and what they experience. So, you know, I think stepping back from the actual process of identifying the needs rather than bringing forth a standard set of here are the needs that we're going to identify at each hospital across our system. 00:05:16:11 - 00:05:52:24 Corey Smith, Ph.D. We try to frame it as here is our broad theory of change for how we think we can address health needs across the Corewell Health service area, right? We think we need to have a balanced approach to investing in, initiatives that are going to create change at lots of different levels. And so rather than saying this is exactly, you know, the condition or the need that you need to work towards trying to offer a way to work rather than a how to work, I think is a critical part of what we try to bring into both the CHNA, the community health assessment needs process, but also the development of the strategies and response to that 00:05:52:24 - 00:06:17:18 Corey Smith, Ph.D. process. So I think that's part of the way we balance that tension. And then we've thought a lot about, you know, what is a system's sort of backbone look like for local teams doing this work. And what kind of technical support can we bring to the table, whether it's, you know, in the in the form of how to create better surveys, whether it's in the form of bringing forth access to publicly available data sets that look more at community need. 00:06:17:21 - 00:06:41:15 Corey Smith, Ph.D. Mining census data. Mining other forms of information that, you know, the communities themselves, they may have the capacity, but not the time necessarily to do that work. And even more recently, what tools are available from a technology standpoint site now that even boost the efficiency of accessing that kind of information even more, right? There are tools now that, you know, make that an even simpler process. 00:06:41:15 - 00:06:49:23 Corey Smith, Ph.D. And then how do we make that data more publicly available to people to use as part of the CHNA process or in their own work? Right? 00:06:49:25 - 00:07:09:10 Andrew Jager Those are such good examples of kind of how you think about balancing that tension, as you mentioned, between kind of having a standard set of measures and having things resonate with the local communities that you serve. You talked about, I think, Vanessa, there are three regions across Michigan that you serve. So I wonder, you know, from a practical level, what does this work look like? 00:07:09:10 - 00:07:14:24 Andrew Jager Could you share how it plays out, maybe, in one of the initiatives from 1 or 2 of those regions? 00:07:14:27 - 00:07:47:06 Vanessa Briggs So the way that we like to approach our work is we sort of like to say we use a system wide approach and we're developing what we're calling program portfolios that allows us to encapsulate programs that healthier communities can deliver at a regional level. This approach gives us a system wide strategy, but it gives us local context within the regions across east, west and south by addressing the needs that we have identified within our 21 hospitals. 00:07:47:08 - 00:08:28:13 Vanessa Briggs And so examples of those programs, it ranges from doing school based clinics on the east side of the state, where we're actually providing primary care in the school for our students, as well as for residents in community. And the west side of the state, we have a school nursing program that allows us to have a different model, but yet still in the schools, providing training for the school administrative staff, providing basic care for our students in the schools, and helping them manage their chronic diseases whether it's asthma or diabetes. 00:08:28:15 - 00:08:54:09 Vanessa Briggs So that's why we're able to sort of customize our approaches, but yet still have, if you will, a collection of programs in a portfolio that addresses the needs of children, adolescents in a school environment. And so that's a good way and a good example to show how you can have a system wide strategy, but yet still keep it very, very local based off of the needs that are in community, 00:08:54:17 - 00:09:33:28 Vanessa Briggs the partnerships that we have in community. Because we know, as I mentioned, it takes an ecosystem to do this work. And so Corewell has deep relationships with other nonprofits within organizations to help us execute programs, whether it's prevention programs, chronic disease management programs, and even coalition building and doing what we like to call collective impact work. And so it's a variety of programs and interventions that are derived from our implementation plans and, as you know, come from the priorities that are identified in our community health needs assessments. 00:09:34:00 - 00:10:00:26 Andrew Jager Such a powerful example, I think, of the ways that you're thinking about understanding what are the local assets of your communities and then partnering to address those needs in a way that that is really having an impact across the state. So thank you for that work. Corey, one of the questions I frequently get, and I imagine maybe you hear something like this too, is, you know, how do we show the impact of the work that we're having, you know, both through metrics as well as through sharing the stories of the work across our community. 00:10:00:26 - 00:10:13:00 Andrew Jager So how do you share your work in a way that that gets people excited about the work you're doing, brings in partners, and also that can help to develop a system wide culture of learning, adaptation and continuous improvement? 00:10:13:02 - 00:10:36:26 Corey Smith, Ph.D. Definitely a question that I get. You know, my background is in evaluation. And so this is something I've been thinking a lot about. Corewell Health for the time I've been here - and, and I think the question that's been sitting in my head for five years has fundamentally been, how do we evaluate at scale, you know, have three regions, with, you know, over 100 individual initiatives. 00:10:36:28 - 00:11:02:08 Corey Smith, Ph.D. How do you think about evaluating at scale? Right. You want to have evaluation where it makes sense, but you also have limited resources. And so what we've been doing is working to establish a systematic way of making choices with our regional leadership about where to invest, evaluation resources based on local priorities. Right. So really trying to define first where do we need to do this evaluative work. 00:11:02:08 - 00:11:24:21 Corey Smith, Ph.D. Where do we feel it's most important for us to either generate learning or evidence of impact. And then through that designing, evaluation and monitoring processes that are really going to help us hone in on the indicators that are going to be useful for tracking our progress over time, but also the critical outcomes that our stakeholders have helped us develop, 00:11:24:23 - 00:12:03:13 Corey Smith, Ph.D. that our regional leadership has decided are most important. And then it's just a technical task, right? Then it's designing methodologies, whether they're quantitative and qualitative, whether they're optimally mixed. You know, the application of both is most often the best way to answer the evaluative questions that you may be trying to answer. The last thing I'll say about that is, you know, we really have been working to try and establish a set of regional sort of priority indicators that can serve as a guidepost where they're not going to be right the first time, and they're going to have to get better over time in terms of their relevance to local needs, but really trying to 00:12:03:13 - 00:12:15:21 Corey Smith, Ph.D. establish what are some of our, you know, our north stars, our guideposts that we can organize around as we try to make decisions about what to do, and where to invest some of our resources. 00:12:15:23 - 00:12:29:22 Andrew Jager Really well said. Any last words? I mean, a lot of the listeners are health system leaders. So what do you think they need to know about supporting a process that's locally led and owned with the system level resources? 00:12:29:24 - 00:12:58:04 Vanessa Briggs The way that I sort of think about it is it really is important to have a system wide strategy, as I mentioned, whether or not it's in the interventions and creating portfolios to allow you to house like programs, or whether it's having Corey's team do evaluation, provide technical assistance across the entire system in doing our community health needs assessment. 00:12:58:06 - 00:13:39:14 Vanessa Briggs But what's most important and critical is that that system wide strategy still needs to have and allow for adaptability and customization based off of local context. While we can move to centralize and provide benefits from economies of scale within a system wide approach, we can't lose sight that the relevance and the effectiveness of addressing unique needs at a local level or regional level is still critically important, because that's when you're able to address the needs that have been identified within community. 00:13:39:17 - 00:14:01:26 Vanessa Briggs And I think that that's what's most important. We can have system wide strategies but that local context is what really matters, because then we know we're moving the needle to address health disparities, access to care, partnering with organizations, addressing transportation, food access. 00:14:01:28 - 00:14:24:17 Andrew Jager Thank you so much for encapsulating the important work that hospitals do across the country every day to support the communities and to help people be as healthy as they can be. Well, thank you to each person listening for the work that you do to support health and resilience in your communities. Community Health Improvement Week is really about recognizing the important work that you do every day on behalf of America's hospitals and health systems, and more importantly, the communities that we all serve. 00:14:24:19 - 00:14:38:06 Andrew Jager Special thanks to Vanessa and Corey for sharing your thoughts and expertise, for the great work that you're doing at Corewell for Michigan communities. Be well. And until next time, this is Andrew Jager from the wishing you all a very happy Community Health Improvement Week. 00:14:38:09 - 00:14:46:20 Tom Haederle Thanks for listening to Advancing Health. Please subscribe and rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. </details></div> Wed, 11 Jun 2025 07:42:18 -0500 AHA Community Health Improvement (ACHI) Beyond the Bedside: HonorHealth’s Commitment to Healthier Communities /advancing-health-podcast/2025-06-09-beyond-bedside-honorhealths-commitment-healthier-communities To kick off 2025 <a href="/center/community-health-improvement-week" title="Visit Community Health Improvement Week">Community Health Improvement</a> (CHI) Week, June 9 – June 13, three experts from HonorHealth discuss how the health care network is addressing community needs beyond traditional care. From addressing food insecurity to launching innovative programs such as the Adult Day Health Care Center, HonorHealth is taking bold steps to strengthen the fabric of its community.<hr><div></div><div class="raw-html-embed"><details class="transcript"> <summary> <h2 title="Click here to open/close the transcript."> View Transcript </h2> </summary> 00:00:00:28 - 00:00:33:24 Tom Haederle Welcome to Advancing Health. Hospitals and health systems across America regularly take the pulse of the communities they serve, making sure that the care they offer is closely aligned with what people need most. As we kick off 2025 Community Health Improvement Week, we learn in today's podcast how Scottsdale, Arizona-based HonorHealth's adult day health care program delivers great value and expanded freedom for many older adults and the families that care for them, while also serving as an anchor for its community. 00:00:33:27 - 00:00:55:17 Samantha Borrow Thank you so much for joining us on this Advancing Health podcast. My name is Samantha Borrow. I am a program manager on the AHA's population and community health team, and it's my honor to be joined by three of our colleagues from Honor Health, who are helping us celebrate CHI week by talking about some amazing programing that happens at their hospital. 00:00:55:19 - 00:01:20:12 Samantha Borrow So today we have with us Michelle Pabis, the vice president of Government and Community Affairs. Haeli Miceli, the Honor Health Desert Mission executive director, and Anne Costa, the Honor Health Desert Mission living well director. Thank you so much for being here with me during CHI week. It's so great to talk to you all today. So, Michelle, I would love to start with you. 00:01:20:19 - 00:01:29:29 Samantha Borrow Can you just talk about how you have identified needs in your community, how you've worked with your community to better address those needs through all of your programing? 00:01:30:01 - 00:01:50:10 Michelle Pabis Great. Thanks so much for the opportunity, Samantha. So a little bit about on HonorHealth. We're a nonprofit health system based here in Scottsdale-Phoenix area of Arizona. We are the result of a merger from two systems, Scottsdale Healthcare and John C Lincoln, just over 12 years ago. But really, the combined history of our organizations are over 100 years of serving our community. 00:01:50:12 - 00:02:15:22 Michelle Pabis Interestingly enough, it actually started with Desert Mission that we're going to talk about today. So over nearly a hundred years - we celebrate in 2027 - Helen Lincoln and her family traveled here looking for the cure for tuberculosis. That time, people were escaping to the desert from other parts of the country and she came here looking for health care. But really, what she did is instilled a sense of community, of neighbors taking care of neighbors. 00:02:15:25 - 00:02:37:19 Michelle Pabis The Lincoln family actually helped to establish Desert Mission. Very early stages included many of the services we're still serving today and offering today - everything from a clinic to a food bank to childcare, etc.. And so Desert Mission's roots go back over 100 years in serving the Sunnyslope community, but really that much more now as a part of the larger HonorHealth system. 00:02:37:20 - 00:03:01:18 Michelle Pabis So the four pillars of Desert Mission, as we like to say, is our food bank, our adult day health care, our early childhood education center, and our Living Well programs, which really focus on resource navigation. What we've always done, because it's the right thing to do for the community, is really the future of health care. As we look at the social determinants of health and helping connect patients to their resources available in their community, right? 00:03:01:21 - 00:03:21:29 Michelle Pabis The �� Association has done a lot of work in this area, showing that just 20% of the medical care you actually receive influence your health outcomes. 80% are those environmental factors, those social determinants of health. We need to look beyond the walls of our hospitals, right? We need to be in the community. And we do that also through our community health needs assessment. 00:03:22:01 - 00:03:44:07 Michelle Pabis So as a nonprofit community health care system, we now have nine hospitals. And every three years we go through that what we call CHNA process, where we do survey our community. We work with key informants. We have internal teams that help prioritize the health needs of our community. And Desert Mission, without a doubt, is a large part of that strategy and helping to make sure those health needs are addressed. 00:03:44:10 - 00:04:05:19 Samantha Borrow Thank you so much for that overview. And it's so wonderful, especially during this week that celebrates community and hospital partnerships to really be talking to you about these really strong partnerships that you have for almost 100 years now. So talk about roots in a community. You all are really well established there, and I'm sure that they rely on you for the great services that you provide. 00:04:05:21 - 00:04:25:06 Samantha Borrow And speaking of those services, one of them is the adult day care program that you all have. And I was watching the video on your website and one of the quotes that stuck out to me as it related to this program said, older adults still need purpose and meaning in their lives and their caregivers sometimes just need a break. 00:04:25:08 - 00:04:42:27 Samantha Borrow And we know that we have a population in the United States that is just getting older and is going to be really needing these services very soon. So I wanted to just talk more about that program, how that became one of the pillars of this work that you do. Haeli, I would love to have you talk a little bit more about that program. 00:04:42:29 - 00:05:08:08 Haeli Miceli Well, thank you, Samantha, I would love to. It is an amazing program here at Desert Mission and HonorHealth. And as you said, aging Americans are something that we need to be focusing on. By 2030, 1 in 5 Americans are going to be over 65. And Alzheimer's and dementia projections are up to 6.7 million Americans will have a diagnoses of dementia in 2024. 00:05:08:14 - 00:05:38:03 Haeli Miceli And so the need for some of these programs becomes very great. And there's some huge benefits to adult day programs, which includes the delays in institutionalization, keeping people home longer. Caregiver support, as you mentioned, is so important for our community. Improved health outcomes is one of the things that we look at. This provides respite for caregivers, but also does some pretty amazing things for our members who come. And enhanced social engagement. 00:05:38:05 - 00:05:44:08 Haeli Miceli And also, it's more cost effective than some of the other programs that are available to older Americans today. 00:05:44:11 - 00:05:56:17 Samantha Borrow It's so important all around for both sides. Can you just share maybe anecdotally, is there a bright spot that you saw in a in a family that has used these services? Any words of encouragement that you hear? 00:05:56:20 - 00:06:20:21 Haeli Miceli I will say we've got wonderful stories that that happen every day. But one of the things that we see almost daily is that we have caregivers that are able to then continue on there in a sandwich generation where they may be taking care of children at home, and they're also taking care of their parents, and they're having to make some pretty critical choices in terms of can they go to work? 00:06:20:25 - 00:06:42:10 Haeli Miceli Do they need to stay home and be a caregiver? And programs like our adult day health care program allow them to facilitate all of those things that they need to do to operate their family. It also allows folks with family members that have dementia or cognitive decline to be able to relate to people in a way that they haven't been able to in a while. 00:06:42:14 - 00:06:59:05 Haeli Miceli And so it brings families together. We're fortunate to have a full time social worker onsite, too, and that that allows us to help the families navigate some of those challenges and provide caregiving support groups not only to the folks that are attending our programs, but in the community as well. 00:06:59:07 - 00:07:22:03 Michelle Pabis Samantha, I would just add it, you know, I really think it's such an important asset for our employees and our community. It is really, as Haeli said, that ability to keep your loved one at home, and caring for them, but at the same time, having that programing and social supports. We know from some of our work that if you don't have that constant stimulation, both mentally and physically, we know that decline can be that much faster. 00:07:22:03 - 00:07:42:14 Michelle Pabis And the incredible activities that does Desert Mission does &nbsp;- everything from a bingo game to dancing to painting - it really helps those members really be a part of community and have that socialization. I know I've heard and talked to several families. I was talking to a woman who had recently moved her husband into assisted living because he's declining care, and she talked about that 00:07:42:14 - 00:08:01:28 Michelle Pabis the adult day care program was the best years of their life as they've gone through this journey. Just because not only for the supports for her husband, but for her as a caregiver. They offer support groups. There is a nurse onsite that's helping them manage medications, managing daily care. It really is, as I say, one of the greatest gifts we could give our community. 00:08:02:01 - 00:08:25:12 Samantha Borrow That's wonderful that you offer that to the employees and the community. So it's a win win for everyone that's involved with that program. It's so wonderful to hear about that. And speaking of other programing that you have, I know that you all have the Living Well program and, and I was wondering if you could just speak a little bit more about that and how patients access that service and community members access that service? 00:08:25:15 - 00:08:51:10 Anne Costa Yes. Happy to do that. So, as our Living Well program is our newest program within Desert Mission, and really, it was developed in response to really being able to address the social determinants of health, in conjunction with the community work that we're already doing with our other programs, but also being able to respond to those specific needs that we're seeing with our patients population being that nonprofit, part of that health care system. 00:08:51:17 - 00:09:15:17 Anne Costa So it's been a really great, opportunity to be able to grow our programs. That's what my role has been here at Desert Mission for the past 12 years is to grow our programs to focus on things like nutrition access, education and empowerment programs around food and around other resources that community members are looking for based on their unique needs. 00:09:15:19 - 00:09:43:03 Anne Costa I would say that food insecurity is one social determinant health that we really emphasize in conjunction with the health care system, which has been screening for social determinants of health. And particularly we've been receiving referrals for those who screen positive for food insecurity. And what's been really exciting to be in the space is that our resource navigators are on a statewide platform that is through contexture. 00:09:43:04 - 00:10:04:05 Anne Costa It's called Unite Us. It talks with our electronic medical record, and we have been able to pilot that at Desert Mission. And I think what's different about what we're able to do is because we're part of HonorHealth, we can coordinate and collaborate very closely with our medical health care team, as well as us being the community based organization. 00:10:04:07 - 00:10:17:07 Anne Costa Over the past year, we've been able to do about 1,000 referrals to Desert Mission to receive food. And then we say that food is you know, a gateway to other resources. 00:10:17:10 - 00:10:33:11 Samantha Borrow Just so important that once that screening is done to make sure that there is a warm handoff in a process by which someone can actually connect to services and then actually close the loop on those. So outside of the food insecurity and screening, what other issues are you seeing really come up in your community? 00:10:33:13 - 00:11:01:00 Anne Costa Sure. I know in conjunction with adult day social isolation has been a huge issue where we are looking to how do we bring programs to our community and come to them, which again, transportation is another big need we see. And so this is where we look at how can we take our programs mobile from doing our mobile farmstand program to increasing activities in the community? 00:11:01:02 - 00:11:36:26 Michelle Pabis Samantha, just to add to that, I really think Anne talked about food being that gateway, right? You know, food insecurity, housing, transportation, they're all symptoms of financial insecurity at the end of the day. And so the philosophy has always been, how do we feed the line and shorten the line? We know that connecting individuals, our patients, our clients, our community members with those outside resources, given that there is a need throughout our community to find safe housing, transportation, food, etc. So their team really helps work with the individual, knows those key words to listen for and then connecting them to those outside resources. 00:11:36:28 - 00:11:52:13 Michelle Pabis They've gotten a variety of grant programs where they've been able to do utility assistance, housing assistance. So all of those while at the same time setting them up for that longer term success by being able to identify other programs, other supports that that patient client might be eligible for. 00:11:52:15 - 00:12:15:12 Samantha Borrow So truly that holistic service, that you're offering to patients and meeting them literally where they are with your mobile outreach programs and really getting into the community. As it is Community Health Improvement Week, I would ask if you would all just close with what inspires you right now? What's your bright spots? What keeps you going in this work in community and population health? 00:12:15:14 - 00:12:35:28 Haeli Miceli I can jump in there to start with. And I would say across all of our programs, it is wonderful to have the opportunity to be able to provide opportunities for folks to have purpose and joy every day. Through our volunteer work, through our employees and through the people that come into our programs. It is a collaborative effort. 00:12:36:00 - 00:12:59:12 Anne Costa I think for me, the ability to just be able to get out and really listen to what our community is needing to improve their well-being and to improve their health outcomes is something that really keeps me going. Particularly as somebody who is a big advocate in the food systems world, I love that we get to use food as a means to bring the community together. 00:12:59:14 - 00:13:04:17 Anne Costa And, get everyone excited about their well-being. 00:13:04:19 - 00:13:23:27 Michelle Pabis I often say I have the best job in HonorHealth. I've been here for 19 years, and our ability to respond to community need using data as well as relationships to build programs and have impact is unparalleled. I would just also say that connecting and convening peace as a large health system anchor for our community, right? 00:13:24:00 - 00:13:50:22 Michelle Pabis People are looking to us as the model. And so not only has Desert Mission been phenomenal in their own programing, but they also partner with other community-based organizations to help them build and grow and mature and what they're able to offer. So not only are we a resource in the bricks and mortar sense but we're also, to Haeli's point, that collaborator, that partner to help ease their way or show them the way to continue to build programs and help improve the overall health of our community. 00:13:50:24 - 00:13:56:17 Samantha Borrow Yeah, it's so great to hear that HonorHealth is really taking seriously that role as the anchor institution. 00:13:56:20 - 00:14:15:29 Michelle Pabis Absolutely. And I think that is also being a locally owned nonprofit that we have a board of directors that also hears our community health needs assessment every three years. They approve our implementation plan. So not only is our staff bought in, our community's bought in, but our board of directors also sees this as our guiding document in completing our work in our mission. 00:14:16:01 - 00:14:39:28 Samantha Borrow That's amazing. That "all in" approach is essential. What a wonderful way to end this conversation with you all. So thank you for joining us. It is so wonderful to hear about the work happening at HonorHealth. As a reminder, this is Community Health Improvement Week, so be sure to check out the Community Health Improvement Week website, to see how you can share the great work that's happening at your organizations. 00:14:40:00 - 00:14:51:28 Samantha Borrow And I would like to just say thank you to our speakers today. And thank you for everyone who's listening for all of the work that you do to improve the health and well-being of the communities that you serve. Be well. 00:14:52:00 - 00:15:00:11 Tom Haederle Thanks for listening to Advancing Health. Please subscribe and rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. </details></div> Mon, 09 Jun 2025 00:59:12 -0500 AHA Community Health Improvement (ACHI) Hospital Community Collaborative Curriculum | Center /center/hcc/curriculum Wed, 26 Jun 2024 15:00:00 -0500 AHA Community Health Improvement (ACHI) Infographic highlights hospitals’ valuable role in communities /news/headline/2024-06-13-infographic-highlights-hospitals-valuable-role-communities The AHA June 13 released an <a href="/infographics/2024-06-13-hospitals-are-cornerstones-their-communities-infographic">infographic</a> highlighting the many ways hospitals and health systems advance health and support their communities. Among other topics, the infographic includes data on the number of patients treated in hospital emergency departments, number of babies delivered and number of surgeries performed. It also states that 6.4 million people were directly employed by hospitals in the U.S. in 2022, and hospitals supported nearly one in six jobs across the nation. Hospitals also purchased $1.3 trillion in goods and services from other businesses and supported $4.4 trillion in total economic activity. This week is Community Health Improvement Week. For more ways hospitals and health systems support their communities, visit AHA’s <a href="/center/community-health-improvement-week">CHI Week webpage</a>. Thu, 13 Jun 2024 16:07:23 -0500 AHA Community Health Improvement (ACHI) Chair file: Accelerating Health Equity: A Time for Action /news/chairpersons-file/2022-05-02-chair-file-accelerating-health-equity-time-action It was great to connect with so many colleagues last week at the AHA Annual Membership Meeting in Washington, D.C. One of my priorities as chair is to keep listening to the priorities of leaders in our field as they support millions of team members who go to work each and every day to deliver healing, health and wellness to communities across our country. One priority for hospitals and health systems is advancing diversity, equity and inclusion. The AHA’s next gathering, the <a href="/accelerating-health-equity">Accelerating Health Equity Conference</a>, May 10–12 in Cleveland, will focus on that topic. Led by the AHA Community Health Improvement network and the AHA’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity, this conference is an excellent opportunity for individuals and teams charged with improving community and population health, health equity, diversity and inclusion to convene, listen to one another and learn. The AHA’s recently released Health Equity Roadmap will come to life in Cleveland, as the conference content is organized around the Roadmap’s <a href="https://equity.aha.org/the-six-levers-of-transformation" target="_blank">six Levers of Transformation</a>. Attendees will learn strategies and tactics to put the Roadmap into practice. I encourage you to check out the <a href="https://web.cvent.com/event/efb71c93-6768-4141-b8fa-9b54477449b9/websitePage:66f86fee-8ef6-4668-8000-e6afb3218890" target="_blank">conference agenda</a> highlighting keynote speakers and breakout sessions — there’s still time to sign up to participate. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Of all the forms of inequity, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” During the past two years, we have seen the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbate long-standing health care disparities and inequities. Systemic inequities, such as structural racism and economic disadvantages within diverse communities, continue to prevent individuals and communities from achieving optimal health, thus leading to avoidable differences in health outcomes. At the same time, the pandemic has elevated the need for hospitals and community-based organizations to connect, collaborate and take action to eliminate the drivers of poor health and advance equitable outcomes for patients, families and communities. Let’s renew our efforts around diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice. We must continue to engage with and invest in our neighborhoods and one another in new and important ways to accelerate health equity. Wright L. Lassiter III AHA Chair Mon, 02 May 2022 12:30:46 -0500 AHA Community Health Improvement (ACHI) 2022 Community Health Improvement Week | Center /center/community-health-improvement-week/archive/2022 Fri, 18 Mar 2022 14:49:57 -0500 AHA Community Health Improvement (ACHI) 2021 Community Health Improvement Week | Center /center/community-health-improvement-week/archive/2021 Fri, 18 Mar 2022 14:49:57 -0500 AHA Community Health Improvement (ACHI) Being Intentional about Health Equity — in Everything We Do /news/blog/2021-06-04-being-intentional-about-health-equity-everything-we-do Improving community health to advance health equity is a journey. And like many journeys, this is one that is better taken with partners. For over 10 years, the field has come together and celebrated <a href="/center/community-health-improvement-week">Community Health Improvement Week</a> and the cross-sector partnerships we’ve formed. The past year and a half these partnerships have been particularly vital. The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated health disparities, and the renewed calls for social justice and dismantling structural racism have moved front and center to our community health improvement work this past year. So where do we go from here? While this is a journey many of us have been on for years, it is important to pause, reflect and then renew our commitment to community health improvement and, ultimately, health equity. It is important to ask ourselves what specific actions we want to take to ensure we are moving forward in this work in an equitable and sustainable fashion. Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel at the <a href="https://web.cvent.com/event/1d1ba846-d6dd-4680-adab-d06044e236c4/summary">Accelerating Health Equity Virtual Conference</a>, asking my peers similar questions about how we understand community assets and needs, including the community health needs assessment process. As awareness of the societal factors that influence health has increased, so too has awareness of and the evolving role the CHNA process can play going forward. During the panel discussion, leaders from Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health, Trinity Health, based in Livonia, Mich., and Cleveland-based University Hospitals described how they are conducting and adapting their community assessment and improvement work amid a global pandemic, addressing challenges they see going forward and navigating promising paths to a more sustainable and equitable future. Some specific actions these health systems are committing to include: <ul> <li>Reviewing internal structural factors that may be inhibiting an equitable and sustainable approach. Danielle Price, director, community health engagement, at University Hospitals, shared how the health system paused and reflected on how it could structure itself differently to make a greater impact. In doing so, the health care organization is connecting three previously siloed work streams under one shared community investment vision. She encouraged session attendees to “be bold and make the changes you’ve always dreamed of implementing to foster equity.”</li> <li>Learning how to authentically engage the community and then do it consistently. Jaime Dircksen, vice president, community health and well-being, at Trinity Health, revealed how the health system spent time right before the pandemic thinking about its community engagement efforts and training on equity. She stressed that one invitation to a community partner is not enough. Rather, you have to do this over time and, consistently, “forever.” She emphasized, “This is not just a CHNA thing; this is a forever thing to make an impact in our communities.”</li> <li>Making equity explicit in the assessment process. While community health assessment has always been about equity, Michael Bilton, system director, community health/community benefit, at CommonSpirit, explained that it is important to make it a universal theme that cuts across all needs assessments. In particular, he recommended seeking more granular data on inequities and asking “why” if such data are not available.</li> </ul> Our journey at CHRISTUS Health has been one of inclusion. It was important for us to first look internally and identify who is not at the table. We have renewed our commitment, widened the table and now embrace our partners in communications, advocacy, treasury, strategy and human resources — to include the whole picture and not a limited perspective. Diverse representation allows for integrating community health and health equity throughout the system. We took a similar approach working with community partners and ensured we have a shared commitment to making decisions that meet the health needs of our community. Marcos Pesquera is the system vice president of community benefit, health equity, diversity and inclusion at CHRISTUS Health. He also serves on the <a href="/center/population-health/about">AHA Population and Community Health Advisory Committee</a>. Fri, 04 Jun 2021 11:50:31 -0500 AHA Community Health Improvement (ACHI) Adapting to Uncertainty, Learning on the Front Lines and Creating a Purposeful New Normal /news/blog/2021-06-04-adapting-uncertainty-learning-front-lines-and-creating-purposeful-new-normal COVID-19. Never have our communities been faced with such a challenge, bringing to light the full spectrum of heartache and resiliency. From the chronic stress to the sense of community that comes with a shared traumatic event, our public health infrastructure stood strong and showed us that we could overcome anything together. As I reflect on the meetings, planning sessions and collaborations, I also pause to remember the toll individuals and families have felt around the globe. At the same time, we saw hospitals burdened with rushes of patients, emergency extensions of intensive care units, and medicine adapting to the best way to treat a novel virus. We also saw health systems come together in innovative collaboration to keep patients and staff healthy, stand up emotional health resources and take a leading voice across industries. When I think of the past 18 months, I see a striking imperative where physicians learned from others across the globe in determining the best course of treatment. We saw medical curiosity arise in people banding together to address a looming threat. And we saw caregivers from across the spectrum work tirelessly to address the needs of their community. We have seen a return to public health principles that have helped more people live healthier and happier lives. We prepared for a nearly nonexistent flu season — where we saw a 98% decrease in flu deaths in the U.S. Likewise, we saw infant RSV cases plummet because people washed their hands, covered their coughs and sneezes with a mask and were physically distanced. We were reminded that public health works. As I consider what the rest of 2021 and beyond looks like, I’m encouraged by the openness to a shifting and more flexible workforce. I’ve seen more spare rooms, kitchen tables, kids in the background and dogs in laps that remind me that working in health care is essential: It literally saves lives. Collaboration is becoming the new norm, with previous rivals coming together to innovate and create. We have been given the opportunity to design the life we want to live. So take some time to reflect on your personal mission, vision and values, and live the life you’ve always wanted. Mikelle Moore is senior vice president and chief community health officer, Intermountain Healthcare. Fri, 04 Jun 2021 11:40:49 -0500 AHA Community Health Improvement (ACHI)