to view the program - Society for Public Health Education

Radiation Basics: Medical Reserve Corps and Radiation
Emergencies
Sherwin Levinson, MBA, Director, Georgia East Metro Medical
Reserve Corps
Tools and Strategies for Public Health Response to Radiation
Emergencies
Kevin Caspary, MPH, Health Education Specialist
Concurrent Session D2
Changing Systems for Community Health
Do we have what it takes? Assessing State and Territorial Chronic
Disease Program Health Equity Capacity
Kati Moseley, MPH, Oregon Public Health Division, Health
Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Section; Louise Square,
BA, New York State Department of Health Diabetes Prevention and
Control Program
Achieving health equity is an economic as well as an ethical imperative.
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies concluded
that eliminating health inequalities for minorities would have reduced
the indirect costs associated with illness and premature death by more
than one trillion dollars between 2003 and 2006. Developing effective
policies and programs to achieve health equity requires a public health
workforce that understands its role in public policy change processes
and has specific competencies needed to foster equity through policies
and programs. We must have a public health workforce that is equally
able to educate lawmakers on health equity, health disparities and the
social conditions that shape health, as well as empower communities
and individuals to advocate for policies that increase equity. The
presenter will: (1) describe the process used to develop and administer
a pilot assessment of skills needed by public health workers to achieve
health equity, including identification of health equity competencies
and their integration into existing public health competencies;
and (2) identify next steps to translate individual skills into systems
changes that increase health equity. Attendees will learn the methods
of analysis used, results and recommendations offered to the Centers
of Disease Control and Prevention. Members of the Health Equity
Council (HEC) of the National Association of Chronic Disease
Directors completed this work through funding from the CDC. The
purpose of the assessment was to provide data for the CDC on staff
development and training opportunities in health equity. This research
describes a systems approach to measuring the current ability of state
chronic disease program staff to take action on health equity and the
social determinants of health, and its results offer guidance on where
to investment in staff capacity in order to improve health equity. The
participants will learn how to access the resources of the HEC, and
ways to network with other professionals.
Building an Inter-Organizational Partnership to Promote
Community Systems Change
Perdita Wexler, MA, NM Diabetes Prevention and Control Program;
Ron Hale, MS, NM Department of Health Office of Community
Health Partnerships; Victoria Sanchez, DrPh, University of New Mexico;
Yolanda Cruz, San Miguel Family and Community Health Council
Background and theoretical basis: The growth of partnerships, including
community coalitions, has led to collective strategies to assess,
plan and act to ameliorate health problems in geographic or relational
communities. Over the past decade a body of research has emerged
that emphasizes change models that identify, and theoretically link,
short and intermediate term changes to longer-term community or
population changes. These intermediate outcomes are reflected in
a small but growing body of coalition research on how coalitions
produce systems changes in programs, practices, and policies that can
be theoretically linked to population health outcomes. By creating a
change model that is focused on systems changes, coalitions strategically
identify, engage, and mobilize constituencies to produce changes
such as increased integration of services or greater capacities for policy
action and change. Partnership: We are a university-communityagency
partnership that has evolved over a three-year period. Partners
include the San Miguel Community Health Council, two programs
of the New Mexico Department of Health/Public Health Division:
the Office of Community Health Partnerships, and the Diabetes
Prevention and Control Program, and two university-faculty research
partners. Methods & Interventions: We grounded our initial efforts
in the application of a community health improvement planning
framework designed to guide the community health council toward
identifying systems changes. Using a community determined priority
(diabetes), we conducted a problem analysis with the San Miguel
Community Health Council to identify diabetes risk and protective
factors across an ecological spectrum. Based on the analysis, which
illuminated organizational, community and policy risk/protective factors,
the collaboration selected school policy as a key target of change
for their work. We engaged in a participatory policy study to examine
school nutrition and physical activity policies. The study helped us to
shape our work and to solidify our direction. We have met monthly to
plan, implement, and assess collaborative activities. We’ve also structured
time to critically reflect on our internal processes, challenges,
and lessons for replicating our processes with other health councils,
university researchers, and other department of health programs.
Implications of research results for enhanced practice The inter-organizational
partnership, through its ongoing reflection and dialogue,
has identified organizational, environmental/contextual, and personal
characteristics that have shaped our partnership and facilitated success.
Characteristics such as organizational and personal commitment,
connection to community, and support of department leadership have
emerged as some key characteristics that should be considered as others
create or expand exiting partnerships.
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SOPHE-NACDD 2011 Joint Academy and Midyear Scientific Meeting