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Category: Virginia Initiatives

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Evelyn and Michael Humanim

IPHI Hosts Maryland’s First Statewide Food Summit

IPHI hosted Maryland’s first statewide food summit, Developing a Maryland Food Charter: Statewide Summit, on October 15, 2015. The event included nearly 60 participants from all five regions of the state.

 

The summit focused on the following: 

  • The current status of potential food systems issues at the state-level
  • An overview of the outcomes and themes that arose at the regional convenings
  • Finalizing and prioritizing the strategies across the five food system domains included in the Maryland Food Charter

What is the change you want to see? 

A panel of experts answered this question from Grow & Fortify, Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission, Baltimore Office of Sustainability, Maryland State Department of Education, and Center for a Livable Future. Their perspectives guided the development of the Maryland Food Charter.

All summit participants refined and strengthened strategies that were included in the first-ever food charter. They also assessed the feasibility of the collective action strategies.

To view and download the Maryland Food Charter, click: here.

 

 

RVA Breathes

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RVA BREATHES

IPHI partnered with the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Department of Psychology to implement of RVA Breathes. This program was a six-year NIH-funded research grant to assess the impact of evidence-based interventions on families with a child with uncontrolled asthma in Richmond, Virginia.

Richmond, VA, is consistently ranked one of the most challenging places to live in the United States for those diagnosed with asthma.

This study sought to identify interventions to help Richmond-based families manage their child’s asthma. Working in partnership with a team of Healthy Homes Assessors from the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts (RHHD), IPHI community health workers (CHW) conducted home visits with families with a child with uncontrolled asthma. The team provided education on asthma self-management, establishing a medical home, identifying environmental triggers, and techniques to reduce asthma attacks. The team helped families identify and navigate resources to address health-related social needs.

The final post-intervention visits and data analysis remain ongoing, but current outcomes of interest include reduced emergency department utilization, unnecessary hospitalization, and increased school attendance and medication usage. Preliminary results showed:

  • Caregivers gained the confidence to manage asthma attacks and talk to their children’s doctors and school personnel.
  • Children became comfortable with talking about asthma with their parents and doctors.
  • Caregivers reported developing new strategies to improve medication adherence.
  • Caregivers frequently discussed the invaluable psychosocial support the CHW and Healthy Homes teams provided. Having someone to discuss challenges and fears helped to manage stress. Children felt supported in addressing challenges.

After this project, the VCU and RHHD teams worked together to develop a community-based asthma program model. With more flexibility and adaptability, the community-based program model is well-suited to meet parents where they are. Recognizing the pilot’s success, research project results, and the importance of sustaining this resource, RHHD has agreed to continue this intervention starting June 2022.

To learn more about RVA Breathes, please contact Senior Program Manager Rebecca Epstein at repstein@institutephi.org.

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Center for the Community Health Workforce

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Center for the Community Health Workforce

IPHI is a regional center for advancing community health worker practice, research, and policy.

 

In 2013, the Center for the Community Health Workforce (CCHW) was launched to grow opportunities for peer-based workforce strategies. CCHW is a regional “center for excellence” that fosters multi-sector collaboration to develop and support the community-based health workforce, focusing on community health workers (CHWs).

CCHW priorities:

  • Develop CHW regional standards and scopes of practice;
  • Enhance teaching program for CHW training and continuing education;
  • Support CHW network development across the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia;
  • Consult and provide technical assistance to organizations requesting help in planning, operating, and evaluating CHW programs;
  • Support the effective integration of CHWs into clinical and community-based teams and design policies and programs that facilitate CHWs retention;
  • Research and find innovative CHW models;
  • Serve as a clearinghouse for regional, national, and international CHW best practices; and
  • Support policy development to finance and sustain CHW service models across the region.

To learn more about the Center for the Community Health Workforce, please contact CCHW@institutephi.org.

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Cameron Foundation Community Health Needs Assessment

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Community Health Needs Assessment

The Cameron Foundation in Petersburg, VA, partnered with IPHI to update its community health needs assessment (CHNA). The most recent assessment will be available in spring 2023.

The assessment provides a comprehensive review of demographic, socioeconomic, physical environmental, and health indicators, and includes jurisdiction-level forces of change analyses and a summary of existing services and resources in the Foundation’s service area. IPHI led the collection, analysis, and reporting of health indicators, which include clinical and behavioral risk factors, County Health Rankings from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, health outcomes, and life expectancy maps.

IPHI worked with the foundation to frame the report using a health equity lens to link demographics, environmental and socioeconomic factors (e.g., social determinants of health-SDOH) to overall health outcomes and inequities between populations, neighborhoods, and jurisdictions. Among other data in the report, IPHI integrated the Vulnerable Populations Footprint from the Community Commons and census tract life expectancy maps to visually demonstrate the link between adverse SDOH and short life span at the neighborhood level.  IPHI added evidence-based recommendations to guide communities in using the assessment.

To learn more about the Cameron Foundation’s community health needs assessment, please contact mburton@institutephi.org or visit: www.camfound.org/.

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COVID-19 Response & Recovery

IPHI employees (Fairfax County office) from a birds eye view.

COVID-19 Response & Recovery

In May 2020, Fairfax County Health Department in Virginia turned to IPHI to assist with swiftly building up its workforce capacity to respond to the pandemic (see the Health Department’s initial press release).

 

Within less than a month, IPHI recruited, employed, and trained 80 new staff on behalf of Fairfax County.  By the end of January 2021, IPHI had hired over 640.  This new surge workforce included case interviewers, contact interviewers, community health workers, epidemiologists, environmental health specialists, call center staff, wellness specialists, and over 50 response team managers.  As the pandemic response shifted to include an emphasis on COVID-19 vaccine access, team members were trained and shifted to support vaccine outreach, education, and provision.

IPHI developed a week-long training program for case investigators and contact tracers that wrapped around an online, self-guided course offered by Johns Hopkins University.  IPHI also created a separate training program for COVID-19 community health workers.  IPHI’s curricula ensured new hires had the opportunity to practice what they were learning through interactive, adult learning methods.  The IPHI courses were so well-received the health department asked IPHI to include over 250 government employees in the program as well, beyond the IPHI-employed staff. Over the course of its involvement, IPHI had trained well over 1,000 pandemic responders.  In March 2021, the National Network of Public Health Institutes published an article on IPHI’s training program.

In the late summer of 2021, it became clear that a second boost in workforce capacity was required to respond to a new surge in COVID-19 cases in Fairfax County and across the Commonwealth of Virginia due to the Delta variant and, later, Omicron.  IPHI hired and trained hundreds of additional workers in the fall of 2021 who were deployed to not just Fairfax County Health Department but 22 additional Local Health Districts across Virginia.

IPHI has learned a number of key lessons from this work thus far, including:

  • Public/private partnerships can provide efficiency and agility to governmental efforts to expand capacity and effectively respond to public health emergencies.
  • While there is pressure to ramp up quickly, governments and their partners should invest in sufficient upfront training to improve performance and staff satisfaction.
  • Community health workers have a vital role to play in emergency response.

“IPHI is an essential partner in the Health Department’s efforts to contain COVID-19 in Fairfax County.  Recruiting, employing and training hundreds of staff in just a few short months was no small feat. Due to the critical support and capacity IPHI provided, we were able to focus on our role leading the Emergency Response.”
— Gloria Addo-Ayensu, MD, MPH, Director of Health for Fairfax County

To learn more about IPHI’s COVID-19 response and recovery, please contact Senior Director Carolyn Padovano at cpadovano@institutephi.org.

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Mid-Atlantic Regional Public Health Training Center

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Mid-Atlantic Regional Public Health Training Center

IPHI is a proud training provider for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Public Health Training Center (MAR-PHTC).

 

MAR-PHTC is part of a national network of 10 public health training centers funded by the Federal Health Resources and Services Administration to improve the nation’s public health system by strengthening the technical, scientific, managerial, and leadership competence of the current and future public health workforce. MAR-PHTC serves the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania and is based at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health.

In addition to the partnership with MAR-PHTC, IPHI has worked with public health departments. We support the Blue Ridge Health District in Virginia as they adapt its internal policies and practices to become an anti-racist organization committed to promoting health equity. Our capacity-building work includes in-depth workshops on strategies and best practices for organizational leadership and equity committees to lead transformational change for equity. We have also guided key administrative issues such as workforce diversity, community engagement, customer service, communications, evaluation, and accountability.

Previous work with health departments includes training and technical assistance with the Richmond City Health District, Peninsula Health District, and Norfolk City Department of Health. We assisted the local health department to develop an Equity and Health in All Policies (EHiAP) approach to local governmental decision-making. We provided training on EHiAP and best practices across the country, strategic support in engaging elected officials and other governmental leaders, and policy expertise in developing and passing local legislation to support using an EHiAP framework.

Our educational and training opportunities include classroom-based instruction, workshops, and online professional development events, as well as tailored technical assistance on the following topics:

  • Public Health
  • Health Equity
  • Equity and Health in All Policies
  • Social Determinants of Health
  • Community Health Worker Development
  • Leadership and Management
  • Racism as a Public Health Crisis
  • Cultural Humility
  • Implicit Bias in Public Health and Healthcare
  • Community Engagement
  • Conducting Equity Impact Reviews of Policies, Programs, and Services
  • Communicating Equity to Decision-Makers

To learn more about IPHI public health workforce trainings, please contact us at learning@institutephi.org.

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FCHD Health Equity Leadership Experience

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FCHD HEALTH EQUITY LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE

The Fairfax County Health Department (FCHD) collaborated with IPHI to create a Health Equity Leadership Experience (HELE) program. HELE is a key part of FCHD’s Equity Action Plan for agency leaders, managers, and front-line staff.

 

IPHI’s Healthy and Equitable Communities Workshop, a 16-hour core training on health equity and racial and social justice, helped develop the HELE curriculum.

HELE was designed to lead participants through an exploration of structural racism and other oppressive systems. Based on best practices and IPHI’s experience working in various public health and community settings, the curriculum was adapted to meet FCHD’s needs. The training covers a wide range of topics, such as:

  • Diversity
  • Equity and inclusion
  • Community participation and power
  • Communication skills
  • Action planning

The curriculum uses adult learning theory to ensure that materials, training methods, and small group exercises are relevant to learners’ daily work. Interactive presentation styles use verbal responses, a chat function, Jamboard, Google Docs, polls, and other strategies.

The HELE program was specifically created for FCHD, assisting the department in transforming its organizational culture through a racial and social equity lens. Contact IPHI to explore ways we can support transformative equity initiatives at your organization!

To learn more about how IPHI can help your organization’s health equity initiatives, please contact us at info@institutephi.org.

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Community Health Worker Academy

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COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKER ACADEMY

The Community Health Worker (CHW) Academy is IPHI’s training institute dedicated to expanding the public health workforce. The CHW Academy will train new and existing CHWs in the District of Columbia and neighboring counties in suburban Maryland and northern Virginia.

 

The program aims to increase access to care, improve public health emergency response, and address under-resourced communities’ unmet public health needs by enhancing the skills of existing CHWs.

Public health needs are unmet when capacity, services, and resources are limited. Through the CHW Academy, IPHI aims to expand the critical role of CHWs to improve public health emergency response and help under-resourced communities gain access to care. This initiative was made possible by a three-year grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

To put this plan into action, IPHI:

  1. Provides specialized training, continuing education opportunities, financial support, and mentorship to CHWs.
  2. Facilitates field placements and apprenticeships with community partners to increase the experience, quality, and job readiness of CHWs.
  3. Recruits CHWs from communities that are disproportionately impacted by social determinants of health. By recruiting people from more affected areas, the public health workforce can effectively connect with populations through unique experiences and perspectives.

The CHW Academy is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $3 million with 100% financing from HHS/HRSA sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.

To learn more about the Community Health Worker Academy, please contact chwacademy@institutephi.org or apply below.

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Stronger Partnership, Stronger Community

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STRONGER PARTNERSHIP, STRONGER COMMUNITY

IPHI is one of the project partners for “Stronger Partnership, Stronger Community: Using Health Literacy to Increase Resilience (Stronger2),” a new Fairfax County Virginia Health Department-led initiative to improve health literacy among local African-American, Black, and Hispanic communities.

Stronger2 uses a community-based model to bring together trusted community voices to foster culturally competent health literacy. The program will improve health outcomes by cultivating an individual’s ability to find, understand, and use health information and serve the community in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner.

In recruiting 90+ leaders from non-profits, the faith-based community, and historically Black fraternities and sororities to build the program, the interrelated objectives include:

  • Increase the number of COVID-19 vaccinated days [the number of people vaccinated multiplied by the number of days vaccinated by zip code] for Black and Latinx members by 20% over what would have been expected otherwise
  • Improve COVID-19 health literacy by 40%
  • Improve patient/provider communications by 30%
  • Increase community resilience by 20%
  • Increase social support by 20%

IPHI will train and certify project implementation partners on a standardized health literacy curriculum model/approach. The sessions will cover core elements of competency-based health literacy and topics relating to racial equity, cultural responsiveness, and trauma-informed care. Stronger2 training will occur over several weeks and involves extensive study in health literacy, trauma-informed care, and program evaluation. Following training, the group will build and implement health literacy programs and share the positive impact these make in the community. Some of the key health topics that will be addressed include COVID-19 vaccination, illness prevention, and health care decision-making. Program participants will implement, share, and evaluate the results of their health literacy training and certification.

To learn more about Stronger Partnership, Stronger Community, please contact Senior Program Manager Joanna Davis at joannadavis@institutephi.org or 202.987.2829.

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Community Healthcare Coalition Greater Prince William

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COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE COALITION GREATER PRINCE WILLIAM

The Community Healthcare Coalition Greater Prince William (CGCGPW) is a collaborative of diverse agencies and stakeholders working together to improve the health of Greater Prince William’s residents since 2017.

Community Healthcare Coalition Greater Prince William logoIn 2021, the Potomac Health Foundation (PHF) awarded IPHI a grant to support the CHCGPW and advance its goals. The Greater Prince William (GPW) areas include Prince William County, the City of Manassas, and the City of Manassas Park. After a successful partnership, PHF will continue to support another year of funding in 2023.

The CHCGPW works toward a healthy and happy future for GPW residents by:

  • Conducting Community Health Assessments (CHA) to identify the public health issues residents face,
  • Developing, implementing, and evaluating the activities in the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), a plan addressing the issues found in the CHA,
  • Identifying ways to efficiently and effectively use limited resources,
  • Engaging community members with lived experiences while planning and implementing evidence-based interventions.

The CHIP identified three priority areas:

  1. The neighborhood and built environment
  2. Education opportunities
  3. Marketing, outreach, and advocacy

The CHCGPW created a Neighborhood & Build Environment (NBE) Workgroup to address the conditions where community members live, work, learn, and play. In addition to NBE contributions, the CHCGPW led three Community of Practice (CoP) sessions for community engagement.

As part of the CHIP action plan goals, the CHCGPW accomplished the following:

Community input – Ensure all residents have the opportunity to provide input about their neighborhood and built environment for Prince William County’s (PWC) 2040 Comprehensive Plan. 

  • Worked with members and the PWC planning division to make recommendations about equity and community engagement for the PWC 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
  • Designed a survey for Prince William Health Department (PWHD) to administer to vulnerable areas.
  • Analyzed and shared data from 381 residents with GPW planning divisions. The findings revealed community members’ concern for pedestrian safety, community safety, barriers to youth programs, and access to basic needs and affordable housing.

Community safety – Identify interventions to decrease firearm violence in communities most impacted by firearm injury.

  • Distributed materials for safe firearm storage to healthcare providers in GPW.
  • Promoted a firearm safety screening survey to healthcare providers.
  • Partnered with Team Quest, a mentoring program for teens needing positive social support in GPW. Team Quest is a free program for opportunity youth directed by a collaborative multidisciplinary team of community stakeholders.

Transportation safety – Evaluate areas that put pedestrians and cyclists at injury risk. 

  • Encouraged improvements to pedestrian safety infrastructure in the mobility chapter of the PWC 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
  • Collaborated with planning stakeholders to update an aspirational map of recreational and transportation trails to improve neighborhood walkability and recreational opportunities.

Housing Resource Guide – Collect and verify resources for a housing resource guide.

  • Identified needs to serve as the basis for the community awareness campaign.
  • Created a fact sheet on the intersections between health and the neighborhood and built environment.
  • Created a housing resource guide that includes housing-related concerns and other basic needs for proper resources.

Communication – Enhance the CHCGPW brand for community awareness.

  • Established a dedicated program manager position.
  • Refreshed CHCGPW’s logo, email header, and PowerPoint template.
  • Created branded fact sheets and flyers to inform community members about upcoming events.
  • Launched a monthly newsletter to increase connectivity and coordination across CHCGPW partners. The content includes updates, GPW area events, resources, and more.

If you’re interested in receiving updates, joining meetings, or participating in work groups, click: here.

To learn more about the Community Healthcare Coalition Greater Prince William, please contact Program Manager Michele Burton at mburton@institutephi.org.

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