More than 50 clinic staff and community partners from EHF’s Texas Community Centered Health Homes (CCHH) Initiative came together for a convening in Houston this summer to brainstorm big ideas on addressing underlying community conditions that affect health.
Each clinic team, along with many community partner organizations, learned alongside each other and brought a mix of insights and on-the-ground experience about their approach to community prevention.
The Texas CCHH Initiative is EHF’s four-year, $10 million effort to create more active roles for clinics to address the community conditions that lead to poor health. Clinics are tacking conditions like obesity, hunger, teen pregnancy, neighborhood safety, and more by developing specific ways to take community-wide action to improve the health of those who live there. The CCHH initiative is helping clinics battle a frustrating dilemma: What good does it do to treat people if we keep sending them back to the conditions that make them sick?
“CCHH has helped us move from what’s instinctual to do, to what’s strategic to do,” said a clinic leader at the event.
EHF’s one-day convening featured keynote speaker Dr. Karen Minyard, Director of the Georgia Health Policy Center. Minyard is a national leader and advocate for the importance of community in national, state and local health policy.
There were also breakout sessions on topics of data, policy, and sustainability presented by:
- Jessica Pugil and Bret Sinclair from Working Partner
- Maya Hazarika Watts from ChangeLab Solutions
- Chris Parker from Georgia Health Policy Center
“It’s important to have time together to think about how we can work on common issues,” said another clinic leader. “The protected time and place allowed creative thoughts and kept conversations flowing.”
Right now, 12 clinics across EHF’s 57-county service area are participating in the CCHH project.
