Health Outreach Partners https://outreach-partners.org/2012/06/effective-expansion-planning-using-community-resources-and-fostering-community-development/ Export date: Sat Apr 27 15:40:36 2024 / +0000 GMT |
Effective Expansion Planning: Using Community Resources and Fostering Community DevelopmentThe Affordable Care Act (ACA) has created many opportunities and monetary incentives for existing community health centers (CHC’s) to expand primary health care services and to build, expand, and improve their facilities. Overall, the Affordable Care Act will allocate $9.5 billion over five years to expand services at community health centers and $1.5 billion to support construction and renovation projects.[1] 8 1 By 2015, CHC’s are going to be expected to more than double the number of patients they serve, reaching an estimated 40 million patients with comprehensive primary care services.[2] 10 2 Effective expansion planning will be critical to the ensuring that these goals are met. Effective expansion projects take full advantage of existing community resources. Community resources can include other health and social service organizations, community leaders, students, coalitions, churches---any asset within a community that can be utilized to support and enhance expansion planning activities. At their best, expansion projects also foster meaningful community development. Community development includes efforts that build “the capacity of people to work collectively in addressing their common interests.”[3] 12 3 Health centers can promote development on a community-wide level through expansion activities that engage and empower community members as active partners. Outreach programs can be a particularly valuable health center resource to assist with these efforts. This article explores how effective expansion planning can use community resources and foster community development in order to expand access to care for underserved populations. This article also highlights three examples of health center expansion projects and how outreach programs played a role.
Incorporating Community Members and Resources into Expansion Planning Expansion projects should not take place in isolation from the community that is served by the health center. Overlooking the opinions and experiences of community members can result in unwanted, unneeded, or culturally unresponsive services. Here are three steps that will help to incorporate community voices, feedback and resources into expansion planning:
There are several ways that health centers can remain accountable to community members throughout the duration of a project:
Outreach and Expansion Activity Examples Outreach can play a vital role in supporting expansion activities and promoting community development. Outreach workers:
HOP has identified three specific examples of expansion projects submitted by outreach programs at health centers for our annual Innovative Outreach Practices Report.
By incorporating community members and community resources into the process of expansion planning, health centers can empower and engage populations to become active participants in expansion activities and promote community development. Outreach can also play an important role by seeking out and incorporating community members and resources throughout all stages of expansion planning.
Additional Resources: To learn more about how to identify and connect with existing resources within your community, please visit:
To learn more about the expansion projects described in this article, please visit Health Outreach Partners’ Innovative Outreach Practices Report Database at: http://www.outreach-partners.org/resources/iop 7. [1] 8 1 “Health care law helps community health centers build, renovate facilities, serve more patients.” http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2012pres/05/20120501a.html 9 [2] 10 2 “Community Health Centers: The Return on Investment.” “http://www.nachc.com/client/CHCs%20ROI%20final.pdf 11 [3] 12 3 “An EPA/USDA Partnership to Support Community-Based Education.” http://www.uwex.edu/erc/pdf/AppA_CommunityEdDefinitions.pdf 13
|
Links:
|
Post date: 2012-06-01 15:47:06 Post date GMT: 2012-06-01 15:47:06 Post modified date: 2022-12-08 09:18:27 Post modified date GMT: 2022-12-08 17:18:27 |
Export date: Sat Apr 27 15:40:36 2024 / +0000 GMT This page was exported from Health Outreach Partners [ https://outreach-partners.org ] Export of Post and Page has been powered by [ Universal Post Manager ] plugin from www.ProfProjects.com |