Healthcare and Community Organizations Partner to Improve Health Equity Across the State

Jun 24, 2021 at 11:34 pm by pj


 

Orlando Health, United Way of Broward County, and Moffitt Cancer Center were recently awarded a combined $2.5 million Health Equity Train-the-Trainer Grant by Florida Blue Foundation.

 

Orlando – Together, Orlando Health, United Way of Broward County, and Moffitt Cancer Center, are charting a path to improve health equity throughout the state. The three organizations, with support from a combined $2.5 million health equity grant awarded by the Florida Blue Foundation, will partner to train more than 3,000 healthcare professionals over a four-year period.

 

The health equity grant was provided for development and implementation of a train-the-trainer program to ensure that families and community members have both the access and opportunity to attain full health potential and are not disadvantaged due to environmental, economic, and/or social circumstance.

 

“As a health solutions company, we are committed to identifying unique and innovative programs that will ensure every Floridian, no matter what their background is or what zip code they reside in, has an equal opportunity to achieve optimal health and well-being,” said Susan Towler, executive director of the Florida Blue Foundation. “The train-the-trainer program is an example of how collaboration and partnerships with community organizations and healthcare professionals can strengthen our communities, improve the healthcare experience and drive better health for all Floridians.”

 

The train-the-trainer program strategy is to recruit healthcare providers working in care facilities and health-related organizations throughout the state who will be responsible to then train others at their organizations and providers throughout their communities. Training participants will include doctors, nurses, advanced practice providers, physician assistants, medical assistants, and licensed clinical social workers. The training program topics are health disparities, community strategies, bias stereotyping, cross cultural: communication skills, language access, and self-reflection culture of medicine.

 

To design and implement the train-the-trainer program, Orlando Health, United Way of Broward County, and Moffitt Cancer Center will each lead a core component of the program — recruitment and infrastructure, evaluation and measurement, and curriculum development and design.

 

Orlando Health will lead recruitment and infrastructure.

 

“We are excited about this partnership and the opportunity to address the existing biases and social determinants of health,” said Quibulah Graham, MSPH, BSN, corporate director, Diversity & Minority Business Development, Orlando Health. “Identifying community healthcare organizations and professional associations is key to building awareness, knowledge, and practice of health equity across the Central Florida region and later our state.”

 

United Way of Broward County will lead evaluation and measurement.

 

“Defining equity metrics will play a critical role in our ability to achieve success” said Kathleen Cannon, president and CEO, United Way of Broward County. “This partnership allows us to capitalize on our organizational strengths ensuring we address both healthcare professional and organizational practices that impacts our ability to achieve health equity.  Our approach is strategic and will allow for ongoing iteration by the use of validated measurement tools for keen insight into training delivery and impact.”

 

Moffitt Cancer Center will lead curriculum development and design.

 

“Developing the curriculum for this program provides an opportunity to improve care and advance health equity,” said Dr. Patrick Hwu, CEO, Moffitt Cancer Center. “There is so much talent here in the healthcare field and a train-the-trainer program allows us to leverage that talent to help so many others. Moffitt is proud to be a part of this important effort.”

 

The partners will spend ten months developing the components. The first training sessions are scheduled to begin January 2022 in the corresponding communities of the three organizations.

 

About Florida Blue Foundation

Florida Blue Foundation enables healthy communities by making grants, building coalitions, and embracing solutions that create a meaningful impact in our communities. More than 6.5 million Floridians have received services as a result of our community investments since our founding in 2001. The Florida Blue Foundation’s programs are focused on advancing mental well-being, improving health equity, impacting food security, and addressing systemic racism and resulting health disparities. It is a trade name of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Foundation, Inc., an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more information, please visit www.FloridaBlueFoundation.com.

 

About Orlando Health

Orlando Health, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is a not-for-profit healthcare organization with $7.1 billion of assets under management that serves the southeastern United States.

 

Founded more than 100 years ago, the healthcare system is recognized around the world for its pediatric and adult Level One Trauma program as well as the only state-accredited Level Two Adult Trauma Center in Pinellas County. It is the home of the nation’s largest neonatal intensive care unit under one roof, the only system in the southeast to offer open fetal surgery to repair the most severe forms of spina bifida, the site of an Olympic athlete training facility and operator of one of the largest and highest performing clinically integrated networks in the region. Orlando Health is a statutory teaching system that pioneers life-changing medical research. The 3,200-bed system includes 15 wholly-owned hospitals and emergency departments; rehabilitation services, cancer and heart institutes, imaging and laboratory services, wound care centers, physician offices for adults and pediatrics, skilled nursing facilities, an in-patient behavioral health facility, home healthcare services in partnership with LHC Group, and urgent care centers in partnership with CareSpot Urgent Care. Nearly 4,200 physicians, representing more than 80 medical specialties and subspecialties have privileges across the Orlando Health system, which employs nearly 22,000 team members. In FY20, Orlando Health served nearly 150,000 inpatients and nearly 3.1 million outpatients. During that same time period, Orlando Health provided approximately $760 million in total value to the communities it serves in the form of charity care, community benefit programs and services, community building activities and more. Additional information can be found at http://www.orlandohealth.com, or follow us on LinkedInFacebookInstagram and Twitter @orlandohealth.

 

About United Way of Broward County

United Way of Broward County is a volunteer driven, community-based, nonprofit organization servicing Broward County for more than 80 years. United Way of Broward County fights for the health, education and financial stability of every person in the community. United Way of Broward County is the catalyst for change and centerpiece of partnerships that unite the hearts, minds, and resources within the Broward community. For more information, visit www.UnitedWayBroward.org.

 

About Moffitt Cancer Center

Moffitt is dedicated to one lifesaving mission: to contribute to the prevention and cure of cancer. The Tampa-based facility is one of only 51 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitt’s scientific excellence, multidisciplinary research, and robust training and education. Moffitt is the No. 11 cancer hospital and has been nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report since 1999. Moffitt’s expert nursing staff is recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center with Magnet® status, its highest distinction. With more than 7,000 team members, Moffitt has an economic impact in the state of $2.4 billion. For more information, call 1-888-MOFFITT (1-888-663-3488), visit MOFFITT.org, and follow the momentum on FacebookTwitter, Instagram and YouTube