Academic Partnerships to Foster Multidirectional Learning and Reinforce our Health Center Workforce
Partnerships focusing on improving the health of individuals and communities through alliances among academic associations and health centers are essential to develop workforce innovation projects, serve as a conduit for public health workforce activities, and enhance population health education for medical, nursing, and public health students. This webinar explored the academic partnerships developed by a health center in San Diego, CA, and how these practices helped to recruit, train, and retain its workforce.
Acting on Climate Change for a Healthier Future: The Role of Health Centers
The health community recognizes the climate crisis as an existential threat to humanity and human health, requiring immediate and effective action across all sectors. Health centers are the first point of contact intended to provide comprehensive and coordinated health services and contribute to both climate change adaptation and mitigation via preventive health measures and integrated health services. This webinar series, presented by NNCC and the National Center for Health in Public Housing (NCHPH), explored health hazard exposures and their impacts on the health of vulnerable populations.
Building Resilience in the Midst of a Pandemic: What Health Care Workers and Leaders Can Do During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 crisis has required health centers to focus on the challenges of achieving effective healthcare delivery during shortages of staff, equipment and funding. A lot of energy has been devoted to the urgent and critical need for personal protective equipment, the impending lack of respirators and tests, and the pressure on health centers to help “flatten the curve.” This crisis has left little time to address the impact of workplace and personal stressors on providers and other staff as they try to balance the fear of contracting the virus while carrying a heavy, complex workload. There is a real risk of a mental health crisis facing health care workers on the front lines of this pandemic. This webinar provided tips and recommendations for leadership, clinical and non-clinical staff working at health center clinical sites on how to create a healthy environment and cope with anxiety, depression and other behavioral disorders caused by COVID-19 (SARS-CoV2).
Community Health Worker (CHW) Workforce Development: Methodologies for CHW Use in Addressing the SDOH in Vulnerable Populations
Evidence increasingly emphasizes the importance of the role of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in supporting the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) in vulnerable populations. This is particularly true for health and housing partnerships and their associated supports. In this webinar, Dr. Kevin Lombardi from NCHPH, Jason Amirhadji from HUD and our FQHC partners at Albion Community Health Centers discussed the frameworks, methodologies and promising practices that guide efficient, effective and person-centered care using CHWs.
Healthy Together: A Toolkit for Health Center Collaborations with HUD-Assisted Housing and Community-Based Organizations
This webinar by NCHPH and NNCC walked through an updated resource toolkit for partnerships with organizations, e.g., Public Housing Agencies, managing current HUD-Assisted housing programs, including Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher, Multifamily, and resident services programs, including FSS, ROSS, Jobs Plus and Connect Home; as well as partnerships with other community-based organizations. It illustrated how health center staff can (a) identify housing partners, (b) create common language and goals to ensure partnership success, and (c) sustain partnerships over time.
Screening for Colorectal Cancer: A Patient Centered Approach to Improving Marketing and Promotion
Screening is an essential tool in the prevention of colorectal cancer. Nearly 2 million people in the U.S. are diagnosed with colorectal cancer per year, a significant proportion of these cases could be prevented or diagnosed sooner in screening was more widely utilized by the public.
In this webinar, Dr. Kevin Lombardi and the NCHPH team took a practical, epidemiological view of the promotion and marketing of colorectal screening services. The session included a review of validated promising practices, screening tools and marketing procedures that have been shown to increase rates of colorectal screening in populations of FQHC patients.
Special attention was given to the cultural, linguistic and social conditions that increase screening use in patients from traditionally medically underserved communities and the clinical and workforce management processes that lead to more patient-centered care. The session format included case studies and discussion portions designed to illicit a meaningful, enjoyable and collective interdisciplinary learning experience.
Secondary Traumatic Stress Identification, Mitigation and Improving Work Satisfaction for HC Staff During the COVID-19 Pandemic
This webinar educates staff on the concept of traumatic stress. It identifies terms, risk factors, and symptoms associated with compassion fatigue/secondary traumatic stress and burnout. The concept of self-care is introduced, and participants learn about building skills that can mitigate traumatic stress responses and improve work satisfaction and resilience.
The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Health Center Workforce: Challenges and Solutions
More than 2 years after the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in the U.S., the pandemic continues to affect communities across the country and has pushed our health centers to the brink. Throughout the pandemic, health centers and their workforces have remained on the front lines mobilizing resources to ensure access to care for the patients and communities they serve. Despite increasing demand for health care services, health centers indicate a critical shortage of staff necessary to meet that demand. Burnout, stress, depression, etc. have eroded our healthy workforce. This Facebook Live session discussed workforce challenges and how to navigate these challenges.
The Impact of EHR Use on Health Center Staffing and Productivity
With the evolution of technology and the growth of Health Center Programs in the United States, the use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology to improve the provision of patient care in a Health Center setting has grown tremendously in recent years. However, At least 70% of physicians using EHRs continue to attribute their administrative burdens to their EHR use. A recent research Report from GWU Health Workforce Research Center shows how the introduction of new technology influences staffing models, staff roles and workflow, and how these changes in turn influence productivity, coordination between providers and quality of care. This webinar will present the recent study conducted by GWU and its findings, and will provide the perceptions of EHRs effects on staffing and productivity from a Public Housing Primary Care Program Perspective.
Using Technology to Improve Access to Health Care
Electronic communication, such as emails, patient portals or text messaging, can be a useful tool in the practice of medicine and can facilitate communication within a patient-physician relationship. Throughout healthcare, there has been a recent push for electronic communications to be used more frequently to improve quality of care. This webinar explored the different technologies and devices used by two Health Centers to improve their communications with patients, their access to care, provided examples and lessons learned.