Tuesday, March 5, 2019

March 2019 Update

Dear Community Partners and Key Stakeholders,

This month we will begin to identify the voices that need to be included in defining how we will move forward to improve and expand efforts around our newly identified focus health conditions.... improved mental health and birth outcomes, keeping the focus on health equity throughout our work.  This week's CHIP Advisory Council will participate in a process to begin to tease out the different ways to consider who we need to involve and the best way to incorporate their voices.  We will also be reaching out to all our partners to inform this important first step.  This could take the form of a quick survey or community conversations, but you should be seeing opportunities to participate in the near future.

In our February Update we highlighted the importance of having a shared understanding and shared language around social determinants of health and we began to "unpack" this at our February CHIP Advisory meeting.  You can view the slides we shared at the February Advisory meeting here.  Many of those attending found helpful how we presented the "lens" you use if your definition of social determinants leans more toward a focus on health, on health care or health equity.  

We also began a conversation to identify what learning opportunities and resources we need to better understand SDoH, to know how to talk about it with leaders and stakeholders and to identify ways to begin more effectively addressing those social and economic factors that strongly influence health.  We will intentionally be sharing materials, both on our CHIP Resources page, via email and on Facebook.  We shared a recent webinar and information about new documentary from Health Leads entitled What Counts that highlights how health care organizations are approaching the social needs of their clients and beginning to broader their conversation around social determinants of health.  You can find a link to the documentary on  our CHIP Learn Page.

The annual County Health Rankings report from University of Wisconsin and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will be released in mid-March.  This report highlights how health is influenced by where we live, learn, work and play in individual communities across the country and offers opportunities to consider where we are doing well and where we can improve.  The media generally does stories around the Rankings and we hope that many of you will be available to highlight your work or concerns.  If you are interested in being available for interviews, please contact Zo Mpofu.  

We want to offer a shout out Maggie Adams and Cindy McMillan for sharing lessons from their work with Mothering Asheville and Sistas Caring 4 Sistas in a national webinar hosted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on Policies & Programs to Help Build a Culture of Health!

Keep up-to-date on more timely information and partner updates on our Facebook page. To share your info on our Blog and Facebook pages, send content to Terri at anytime.
In appreciation of all you do!
The CHIP Team!