Head, US Advocacy & Alliance
Health equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to live a healthy life. For AstraZeneca, advancing health equity starts with ensuring all patients have access to our medicines and are provided the conditions they need to achieve their best possible health outcomes – and this is core to our mission. Through Accelerate Change Together (ACT) on Health Equity, we are serving as a community partner to improve health equity across underserved populations by collaborating with nonprofit organizations that understand the unique needs of their communities and are taking innovative approaches to address them.
In 2022, we provided $4 million in financial contributions to nonprofit organizations through our second-annual ACT on Health Equity: Community Solutions Challenge and National Core Therapy Area Strategic Collaborations. All recipients were chosen based on several criteria, including their ability to create measurable and sustainable change toward health equity. Following the submission of more than 1,000 applications to the second annual AstraZeneca ACT on Health Equity: Community Solutions Challenge, we selected 38 community-based nonprofits to receive $25,000 each, for a total of nearly $1 million. We are thrilled that we were able to expand our reach by eight additional awards this year. The Community Solutions Challenge continues to provide support for localized programs tailored to each community that address social determinants of health including social, emotional and academic support, healthcare worker training, disease education, services combating barriers such as transportation and food insecurity and STEM career and leadership skills training.
Through our National Core Therapy Area Strategic Collaborations, fourteen national nonprofits received a total of $3 million to support health equity programming within the communities and therapeutic areas where AstraZeneca has presence and expertise including asthma, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, heart failure, lupus and cancer. Programs supported through these contributions will apply a health equity lens to efforts with a focus on the healthcare workforce pipeline, community health empowerment and clinical trial diversity, to eliminate barriers to higher incidence of preventable conditions among under-resourced populations.
There is no question that more work must be done, but we remain committed to learning alongside the communities we serve as we transform patient outcomes together.
Learn more about our recipients and their programs below.
Community Solutions Challenge
Academy of Medical & Public Health Services, Inc.
AMPHS’ Community Health Clinic Pop-Up Program is a community-based public health initiative that holistically addresses social determinants of health and clinical needs by bringing coordinated health services and education to low-income Latino and Chinese immigrant families in Sunset Park. The program includes regular pop-up health screenings and follow-up case management, all offered at no cost and blind to documentation status, income or insurance. It aims to reduce healthcare disparities; increase regular access to care and social services; and create a pathway for early detection and treatment of health problems and diseases, such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, poor nutrition, obesity, and declining eyesight. The program will provide health screenings, vaccinations, and testing opportunities for 1,200 community members while connecting them to multilingual health resources, overall improving the health status of at least 66% of community members receiving services.
After-School All-Stars DC provides free, comprehensive afterschool services at six high-need public middle schools in Washington DC, serving nearly 400 students annually. We envision our All-Stars growing up in safe environments and good health, graduating from high school and going to college, finding careers they love, and giving back to their communities. Our core programming consists of five main tracks: academic readiness, health and wellness, STEM learning, career exploration, and visual and performing arts. All of our programming is designed to be culturally relevant; tailored to the needs of each school’s unique student body based on feedback from students, families, and administrators; and imbued with social-emotional development practices.
Through a network of volunteer pilots and airline partners, Angel Flight West (AFW) provides free air transportation for people who need to travel long distances to access non-emergency medical care and other essential services. All costs are donated and there’s never a charge for an AFW mission. Across the 12 Western states, we’re changing – and saving – lives, one flight at a time, with more than 96,000 missions flown. Our objective is to remove transportation as a barrier to health equity.
Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation
The Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation’s Access to Better Care program goal is to intentionally advance health equity for men of all races between 40-75 years of age living within the Arkansas Delta counties of Chicot, Desha, Phillips, and Lee. The ABC program will increase prostate cancer awareness through the distribution of educational materials in collaboration with Arkansas Rural Health Partnership, provide increased access to care through free prostate cancer screenings hosted in the four Arkansas Delta counties of focus, and support newly diagnosed men or men undergoing treatment in the Delta region with 1:1 and peer networking support through APCF’s patient navigation program. With AstraZeneca's funding the ABC program will increase the number of prostate Cancer screenings and the number of patients navigated through prostate cancer treatment by over 100% in comparison to past recent years, allow APCF to survey Arkansas Delta community members for self-reported barriers to health care, and continue APCF’s commitment to health equity advancement.
Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
People experiencing homelessness are among the most vulnerable and unwell members of our community, bearing a disproportionate burden of acute and chronic health conditions that are compounded by tremendous barriers to accessing a consistent and trusted source of health care. Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program is committed to bridging gaps in care faced by individuals and families experiencing homelessness in our community by bringing care where it is needed most—within shelters and on the street. Over the coming year, AstraZeneca’s ACT on Health Equity contribution will allow BHCHP to achieve two key goals: 1) to improve the health outcomes for individuals and families experiencing homelessness by increasing access to high quality, culturally and linguistically appropriate health care and health education, and 2) to train future practitioners to care for the unique and complex needs of marginalized populations.
Brilliant Detroit’s work will be focused on two key goals: (1) expand a physical fitness platform that is implemented with, for, and by community members and builds neighborhood connectedness; (2) provide families with wraparound support through regular access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Collectively, this work will advance our vision of creating neighborhoods that are not only healthy, but have the tools to own their own change.
Christina Cultural Arts Center
HeArt Under The Hoodie Is an after-school youth violence prevention program utilizing Urban Improv - an evidence-based, interactive school drama curriculum. The program aims to guide the development of emotional and social competencies in adolescents through the use of an adapted Urban Improv curriculum. Using the Urban Improve model, youth will rehearse and perform conflict scenarios to learn decision-making, impulse control, and conflict resolution skills. Goals include: Increase in school attendance, increased knowledge and skill in an art form Increased self-efficacy, increased parent engagement involvement in pro-social groups after school Increased resiliency and decreased risky behaviors.
Equal Hope’s mission is to save lives by eliminating health inequities. We do so by challenging the status quo--striving to understand the context of people’s lives and the barriers they experience, so we can help them achieve their best health and a longer life. Through research, quality assessment & improvements, advocacy, education and patient navigation, we approach health holistically to achieve sustainable outcomes and true health equity.
Family Promise of Southern Chester County
In the Promise House program, FPSCC rents apartments from landlords to be used as emergency housing. The Promise House allows families to stay in housing for up to ninety days. During this time, a FPSCC case manager works with families to establish and address goals, including gaining or improving employment, household budgeting/financial literacy, securing permanent housing, and connecting to entitlements (i. e. childcare, housing subsidies, food stamps, health care). Families also receive life skills training, such as how to utilize public transportation, improve their credit and financial situation, and build social networks, helping them to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness.
Girls With Impact operates the nation’s only live, online “mini-MBA” program teaching business planning and operations, analytics and marketing, and inspiring entrepreneurship for under-resourced young women (14-24). Our mission is to equip young women with the tools, skills and confidence to be tomorrow’s leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs.
Health Protection and Education Service
HPES will integrate immigrants into the healthcare system by hosting its preventive health screening events on-site at work places where Asian immigrants (Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, etc. ) are employed. The goals of the project are to: 1) deliver preventive healthcare to 150 foreign-born persons who work at restaurants, Asian-owned grocers and nail salons who have systemic barriers to health care (e.g., language, transportation); 2) improve their understanding of their health and the U.S. healthcare system; and 3) connect them to care for conditions and chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes, high blood pressure) before they worsen.
Healthy NewsWorks (HNW) delivers programs in under-resourced schools that improve literacy and health knowledge by transforming K-8 students into journalists who work in teams to research, write, and produce articles and digital materials about health issues that matter to them and their communities. This AstraZeneca contribution will help fund our new environmental health initiative, including the launch of a student-produced magazine, during the 2022-2023 school year and provide at least 1,400 students with STEM knowledge and literacy skills.
Identity’s Jóvenes de Mañana (Youth of Tomorrow) out-of-school-time program is expanding STEM enrichment with the goal of getting academically struggling second and third grade Latino youth excited about STEM subjects while developing their problem-solving and critical thinking skills and expanding their perception of the world and their future career possibilities. For this expansion, the KID Museum will train Identity facilitators to deliver a STEM curriculum incorporating activities such as coding, 3D printing and circuit building. Identity will also run family engagement workshops for parents/caregivers to help them support their child’s education and nurture their enthusiasm for STEM. Our intended outcomes for participating youth are to increase their STEM knowledge, skills, vocabulary and enthusiasm; improve their critical thinking and problem-solving skills; improve their social-emotional skills (e.g., persistence, self-efficacy, relationship building); and increase their reading proficiency levels.
Whole-Person Healthcare in Northeast Ohio will allow Lake County Free Clinic to fully integrate a holistic approach to no-cost healthcare for uninsured and underinsured adults and children in northeast Ohio. LCFC expects that more than 2,500 individuals in the clinic's 3.5-county service radius will benefit from the three components of this program: increased hours for the clinic’s case management program to connect patients with basic needs and social determinants of health, increased community outreach so that those who need no-cost medical care learn about LCFC’s services and increased on-site education to help improve the health and lives of the clinic’s patients and their family members.
Lori's Hands trains and equips college students to make weekly volunteer visits to assist community members living with chronic illnesses such as Parkinson's Disease, multiple sclerosis, ALS, heart failure, and cancer. During their visits, pairs of students address the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) needs of clients by going grocery shopping, picking up prescriptions, doing laundry, offering technology training, and helping clients connect to community resources, among other essential tasks. Simultaneously, and of equal or greater value, students provide a consistent source of social support. Students, often preparing for careers in health care, also benefit by solidifying career interests, a deepening knowledge of chronic illness, and intergenerational understanding.
Lovin’ Spoonfuls alleviates food insecurity by diverting perfectly good food from the waste stream and providing it to those who need it most. We partner with over 85 grocery stores and other vendors to rescue fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy and other foods and distribute these foods on the same day to 195 nonprofits that support community members struggling to obtain enough to eat. Lovin’ Spoonfuls increases access to healthy food and contributes to improved long-term health outcomes.
The primary goal is to address health inequities and access barriers in East Hawai’i Island’s ethnically diverse rural and remote communities. The program will be part of our Pilina Care Outreach Clinic, a comprehensive outreach effort that bundles health education with medical care access for the people living in East Hawai’i Island’s health care desert communities. In the program year, we will outreach to at least 8,000 people, including youth, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders, and LGBTQIA+, among other special populations. Outcomes expected include a 20% increase of people accessing primary care and a 30% increase for behavioral health services.
Mighty Writers teaches kids 3-17 to write and think with clarity through free, high-quality after-school workshops, mentorships, and educational activities in underserved communities. Kids in our Philadelphia-area and New Jersey programs are more likely to achieve academic success, graduate from high school and attend college. Our family-oriented bilingual programs in Spanish-speaking communities enhance English and digital literacy and provide meaningful stepping stones for immigrant children's success. In our 13 years of operations, we learned that writing is not one-dimensional and must accentuate our innovative SEL-integrated Whole Child Approach. We also offer free food, books, diapers, and period products at our locations, and we give out free books to kids through our Mighty Bookmobile.
Mobile Care Chicago dispatches mobile clinics called Asthma Vans into low-income communities to provide ongoing medical support to children with asthma and allergies. Through Asthma Vans, Mobile Care Chicago has screened over 143,000 children for asthma, provided comprehensive asthma care to 13,500+ vulnerable children through over 55,000 patient visits. All diagnostic equipment and medications available at a specialist are available on an Asthma Van.
This project will address the lack of access to culturally sensitive cancer support services for the medically underserved Latino population in the greater Baltimore Maryland Jurisdiction. Nueva Vida will: (1) conduct bilingual/bicultural outreach and education, (2) provide access to preventive (breast, cervical and colorectal) cancer screenings; and (3) provide instrumental support through culturally appropriate patient navigation. We anticipate our project will impact 1) the community to have increased knowledge on cancer prevention and early detection of breast, cervical and colorectal cancer, 2) People to live a healthier lifestyle and decrease certain cancer risk factors (e.g., tobacco cessation), 3) Promote cancer screening tests and increase access to cancer care.
The Center for ASD exists to give families hope for a meaningful future for their children. Our mission is to deliver lifelong support for the well-being of the special needs community. Our vision is a community integrated center that allows everyone to reach their maximum potential. Our values are, We Are Safe, We Empower, We Are Community, and We Serve With Excellence.
Philippine Nurses Association of Virginia, Inc
Filipino Americans (FAs) are one of the fastest-growing Asian American groups in the United States. Filipino immigration has filled labor shortages in agriculture, the military, and nursing, and FAs are overrepresented in these important workforces. It is important that FAs who fill these jobs are healthy. FA engagement in health promotion is critical because FAs continue to have a higher prevalence of chronic diseases than whites, blacks, and other Asian groups. Cultural tailoring of interventions can be effective in reducing health disparities by attracting underserved populations to health promotion programs and improving their outcomes.
Prime Fit Youth Foundation is a youth serving nonprofit that was founded in 2019. Our specific program, Partnership Assuring Student Success (PASS) is a proactive, intentional mentoring and academic support program serving children with risk factors that are predictive of school failure, social-emotional-mental health challenges, and/or risk of involvement in the juvenile justice system. Specifically, we focus on marginalized youth (children of color, children living in poverty, children with social-emotional difficulties). Our program has demonstrated empirical impact on protective factors that can lead to prevention of academic failure, substance abuse, and promotion of improved behavioral health overall.
RareKC, RARE-X and WyCO Health are leading the first of its kind Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) program engaging patients impacted by rare disease in more diverse communities via trained health liaisons/community-based research ambassadors. Through our community driven, patient-led research networks – piloted in the Kansas City and Birmingham, Alabama regions – our organizations, alongside critical partners and stakeholders, will yield more diversified patient participation and partnerships in research and innovation. The purpose of this nine-month, community-based program is to meet patients where they are.
Ser Familia will provide culturally and linguistically proficient mental health services to Latino kids, teens, adults and families to help them thrive after instances of trauma, abuse or other situations. 92% of clients who complete their treatment plan will show improved coping skills as measured by pre and post assessments. 85% of clients who complete their proposed treatment plan will report improvement in anxiety, depression, and/or hopelessness symptoms as measured by pre and post assessments. 95% of clients who were survivors of violence or abuse and that complete their proposed treatment plan will learn new and improved strategies to enhance their safety and gain increased knowledge of community resources.
Somali Family Service of San Diego
The SHIFA360 program creates economic, health and social equity for the underserved community. SHIFA360 is a reskilling project offering three career paths—Community Health Worker, Motor Vehicle Operator and Healthcare Support Administrator. We aim to close the gap in the socioeconomic status of immigrant, refugee, and the underserved population through reskilling training programs for living wage careers. The four pillars of our program are: 1. Supportive Services, 2. Flexibility, 3. Cohort Building, 4. Mentorship.
The MAKERS of Change Assistive Technology Challenge is a unique competition in the Greater Phoenix area that combines STEM and Human Services as an avenue for underrepresented students to learn important lessons about the practical application of assistive technology solutions to support young children with disabilities. What sets this project apart is that the solutions designed by the high school students of all backgrounds will contribute to real change in our community, while giving those students access to the growing field of science, technology, engineering and math.
STEM for Her’s Exploring BioSciences Opportunities program will support high school girls and young women throughout the Washington DC Metro area and beyond, with a specific focus on underserved communities. The program works to spark interest in the far-reaching opportunities offered in biopharmaceuticals in the local area, while teaching young women and girls how to pursue a career or learn more about this expanding area of science.
The goal of “The Power of Promotores” project is to provide diabetes health education to families in an underserved neighborhood in El Paso. The project is an initiative of EP-HEAT (El Paso-Health Education and Awareness Team), a program at the Foster School of Medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso (TTUHSC El Paso). EP-HEAT consists of medical students, faculty, and promotores (community health workers) who together provide bilingual health education to the community. EP-HEAT uses Train the Trainer model where our medical students and faculty train promotores on medical topics and in turn, the promotores train students and faculty on how to engage the community in a culturally and linguistically relevant manner. The intended audience are community members of zip code 79905, an underserved neighborhood in south El Paso where the TTUHSC El Paso campus is located and which experiences many health inequities and unfavorable social determinants of health. EP-HEAT will invite residents of79905 to the TTUHSC El Paso campus for free diabetes health education workshops. Participants will learn how to access online diabetes resources, receive pamphlets and children’s activity booklets developed by EP-HEAT, and tour the campus to learn about available medical services and programs.
The Masters Plan – The Food System
The goal of Holmes County AgriSTEM is to educate and equip students with STEM skills through experiential projects in agriculture and food science. Students in middle and high school are the target audiences for this youth enrichment project. The intended outcomes of the Holmes County AgriSTEM youth enrichment program are to a) increase awareness of STEM careers in agriculture; b) provide students with practical skills in STEM-related agricultural fields through summer internship placements; and c) improve college and career readiness skills through program participation.
“Serving those who Served Us” is a community-based program designed to primarily address the health and wellness of the African American/Black Military Veteran and their families. The focus is on
educational awareness, existing tools, program opportunities that will help participants understand and act on health and wellness with a focus on providing culturally relevant and health literate information made readily accessible.
Thrive Allen County’s goal is to make Allen County the healthiest rural community in Kansas. Through Allen Regional Transit Services, we are working to create greater health equity in rural southeast Kansas by increasing accessibility to healthcare and safety-net services. This includes, but not limited to, trips to specialists' appointments, dialysis, cancer treatments, grocery stores, pharmacies, and social service agencies. Working together, our transportation services are providing health equity to the 19% of community members who currently do not have access to reliable transportation.
TurningPoint Breast Cancer Rehabilitation
TurningPoint's goal is to improve cancer survivorship outcomes by addressing disparities, increasing access to quality and timely care, and/or improve outcomes through patient navigation. TurningPoint is able to accomplish this goal by reducing the financial barriers to care through our Financial Assistance Program that provides reduced fee and complimentary services to underserved patients and survivors residing in TurningPoint's Atlanta Initiative service area. Reduced fee and complimentary services include visits for physical therapy, virtual exercise instruction, emotional counseling, nutritional counseling, and education. TurningPoint never turns a patient away regardless of their ability to pay or not to pay.
University of Nebraska Medical Center
The Nebraska Breast Health Navigation Program (NBHNP) will increase life-saving screening mammography rates among Black and Latina women living within South and North Omaha’s medically underserved communities via a culturally adept navigation program.
The Outdoor Learning Lab program is a partnership between Venture Outdoors and over 15 schools and out-of-school time sites within the Pittsburgh area. Our goal is to connect youth to the mental and physical health and wellness benefits of time spent in nature. During the 2022-2023 school year, over 200 K-12th grade youth will engage in fun, educational outdoor experiences, like kayaking, biking, outdoor skills, environmental STEM, and more.
We Don’t Waste believes nutritious food should go to people, not landfills. We reduce hunger and food waste in the Denver area by recovering quality, unused food from the food industry and delivering it free-of-charge to food pantries, soup kitchens, schools, and shelters serving those in need, as well as directly to the community through free Mobile Food Markets. Since 2009, We Don’t Waste has recovered more than 180 million servings of food to distribute to those in need.
The Wade Center serves at-risk children in grades 1-5 in after-school and summer programs. They learn words, numbers and patterns as well as motor skills through virtual reality, and the older students apply math skills and learn coding to create objects in the 3Dprinters. It's important that our students keep pace with their more advantaged classmates to succeed in school.
YWCA Dayton (YW) operates the only Transitional Housing Program for survivors of intimate partner
violence, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking and their children in Montgomery and Preble
counties. Through each of its transitional housing offerings, the YW offers up to two years of subsidized rent and utility assistance, with a tenant’s first three months of rent and utility costs covered 100% by the YW. Recognizing that the provision of housing alone will not prevent intimate partner violence and homelessness recidivism, the YW provides wraparound services to all who stay in its Transitional
Housing Program, including case management, safety planning, support groups, economic empowerment programming, workforce development, and resource referral. Through this program, the YW aims to break the cycles of homelessness and intimate partner violence through residents’ achieving stabilization through: maintained or increased income; exit to affordable housing; and maintained permanent housing.
National Strategic Contributions
African American Wellness Project
Since 2002, the African American Wellness Project (AAWP) has served as a health communication and education organization, educating the black community about their health concerns, answering questions, fostering dialogue between providers and patients, and empowering our audience to be effective advocates for their health. We provide unique, culturally relevant and vetted health
information to our consumers, the best in our field.
The Health Equity Ambassadors program spreads awareness about cancer risk, prevention, and early detection for a comprehensive approach to advancing equitable outcomes across the cancer control and care continuum within medically underserved populations to deliver critical cancer-related information and resources. This effort aims to reduce health disparities and create a better quality of life throughout communities by providing individuals, families, and organizations with culturally relevant outreach materials, engagement opportunities, and the latest cancer resources. We will develop and disseminate the necessary education and supportive services to equip HEAs in their efforts to create linkage to community resources that increase awareness and education.
With AstraZeneca's support, AKF is developing a platform of programs, resources and policies that tackle health disparities faced by communities of color, who are disproportionately impacted by kidney failure. The initiative is expanding AKF's existing relationships with communities of color, organizations that represent and serve these communities and renal professionals. Focused on the Black
and Hispanic communities, our health equity initiative has four major pillars: 1) preventing and slowing progression of kidney disease; 2) Increasing minority representation in clinical trials; 3) Increasing awareness and utilization of home dialysis as a treatment option; 4) Increasing access to kidney transplantation.
Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health
The program will deliver culturally tailored health messages and interventions on cardiovascular health and mental health to communities of color where social determinants of health create barriers to health education and care. We will combine direct outreach to residents of Brooklyn by trained lay health advocates with broad outreach through partners community-based organizations. AAIUH aims to increase participants’ knowledge around heart health and encourage them to be proactive in reducing their risk of cardiovascular disease. We want to help our program participants make the connection between cardiovascular disease and the increased risks associated with stress by focusing on destigmatizing mental health.
Association of Black Cardiologists
Association of Black Cardiologists
ABC has championed the utilization of Community Health Advocates as a part of its outreach strategy to help eliminate cardiovascular health disparities in Black and similarly underserved communities since the 1970s. The ABC CHAT Program collaborates with underserved communities to train motivated, trusted community leaders and residents to be health educators for their fellow community members on healthy lifestyles and behaviors that reduce CVD risk factors. Currently, ABC has a goal to train between 150 and 250 new CHAs annually over a three-year period. The CHAs will be equipped to individually reach and teach 100 fellow residents resulting in the cumulative engagement of 90,000-150,000 community members at high risk for or managing the effects of CVD, including heart failure and diabetes, over the course of the expansion.
Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America - Saint Louis Chapter (AAFA St. Louis) developed the Asthma Newly Diagnosed Kit program—a first-of-its-kind program that provides educational materials and tools following a pediatric asthma diagnosis to help families learn to manage asthma in childhood. Through this collaboration with AstraZeneca, AAFA will expand this program nationally to serve communities with high instances of asthma diagnosis. The Asthma Newly Diagnosed Kit pilot program will consist of a free backpack filled with easy-to-understand educational materials on asthma management, medical supplies, books, and hypoallergenic and washable teddy bears for families who have a child recently diagnosed with asthma.
The nonprofit BlackDoctor Foundation (BDF) will implement an education and awareness program for patients who are immunocompromised and share with them the benefits of taking steps to protect themselves and reduce the risk. Vaccines available in the United States are highly effective however those with a weakened immune system still face major risk. Helping those individuals
who are immunocompromised will play a role in decreasing the circulation of the virus. Systemic barriers a lack of culturally accurate health information and limited access to preventative and quality healthcare has prevented the underserved Black community from achieving health equity resulting in Black individuals being disproportionately impacted by a myriad of health conditions. We realize the number of Black individuals who are immunocompromised may not be well informed of the dangers facing COVID-19 and the solutions to the problem. This problem BDF focuses on to mitigate through this initiative is eliminating lack of adequate, relevant, and accepted health information that is disseminated to this group. Through the work of BDF and our partners a solution has been developed to create a
patient education intervention program designed to inform vulnerable Blacks through the provision of accurate and reliable information (or dispelling misinformation) related to being immunocompromise and COVID-19.
The Health Education and Empowerment Program (HEEP) aims to increase awareness of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and its self-management. The COPD Foundation will partner with Opelousas Health System for a regional and national education campaign, targeting two distinct audiences: 1) Individuals with a confirmed COPD diagnosis, 2) the general adult population. HEEP will also provide support to health care providers, through educational materials that will increase cultural competence in care delivery, with emphasis on underserved populations.
Healthy Education Advocacy and Learning
This community-facing initiative will focus on eligible, at-risk participants ages 50-80 who smoke or who quit smoking in the last 15 years. Caregivers or a supportive family member will also be invited to participate throughout the program. Through community events, town hall meetings, interest meetings, focus groups and screening events, we will examine the attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs of black men related smoking, lung cancer and screening.
Through the integration and implementation of targeted case-based trainings and outreach, the servicewomen education program will help close the gaps between current military women’s health practices and best military women’s health practices over the year through the following learning objectives: Engaging servicewomen in taking a proactive and informed role in their health care throughout their military career through culturally sensitive and targeted health interventions; Elevating servicewomen’s understanding and awareness of women’s health conditions and women-focused health care services within the military branches; and, Empowering servicewomen to advocate for, exercise their rights to, and utilize the health resources, health information, and services on-site.
North Carolina Central University, Nutrition & Dietetics Programs
North Carolina Central University’s Nutrition and Dietetics Program will be providing nutrition outreach in Durham County, North Carolina, to improve health and health behaviors among adults and families. Through a nutrition clinic and community outreach, individuals and families will gain knowledge and skills to improve their nutrition and physical activity. In turn, this will help in regulating weight, sodium intake and blood sugar, which is associated with a reduction in risk for health diseases, cancer, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and osteoporosis. The overall impact will be an increased knowledge of nutrition, increased skills in food selection, cooking and healthy eating and an increase in physical activity in the Durham community particularly among underserved minorities and those at risk for health disparities, and those affected by chronic conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, that can be supported by nutrition.
The LatinaSHARE Impact Program seeks to improve gynecologic cancer outcomes for low-income,
Spanish-speaking Latinas by increasing their understanding of ovarian, cervical and uterine cancer risk
factors, symptoms, screening, and treatment options, encouraging preventative cancer care, and
providing free, ongoing Spanish-language support to those who have received a diagnosis.
Student National Medical Association
SNMA's National Community Service Protocol Program (NCSP) focuses on educating communities and empowering their members to make healthy lifestyle choices. Utilizing SNMA's extensive 200+ chapter network, NCSP engages youth and adults, aged 15-65, who live in communities where chapters are located. In addition to benefiting the communities where the protocols are implemented, NCSP
plays a vital role in preparing future physicians to have an active role in health promotion and disease prevention. SNMA’s membership and community-centered approach serving as both health advocates and role models is a powerful recipe for accelerating change.
WomenHeart strives to fill a significant and critical gap in support for women who are underserved and experience health disparities. Within our multi-year Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiative, our goal is to bridge the gaps that we have discovered in a survey conducted in 2022 and identify successful ways to bring more diverse women into our programming. Additionally, WomenHeart has convened a DEI Advisory Council to provide guidance into all of the activities. We aim to maintain and possibly add new members to the DEI Advisory Council, as we move from a focus on research to a focus on program redesign and implementation. WomenHeart will approach 2023 activities with three-prongs: Awareness Raising and Education, Improving Support for Heart Health Equity and Increasing WomenHeart Champion Diversity through our Science and Leadership Symposium Training.