Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Diane A. Pavey and Patrcia G. Bray, PhD. Health Charities, St. Luke's Episcopal Health Charities, 3100 Main Street, Suite 800, Houston, TX 77022, 832.355.6333, dpavey@sleh.com

As a public charity with a developed web-based Community Health Information System (CHIS) SLEHC serves the community that includes Harris County where 1.1 million are uninsured. Our newest mapping tool identifies specific information about all of the clinics that constitute a safety net for underserved population in the city. This medical safety net includes all public health, private non-profit, school-based, and Federally Qualified Health Clinics. SLEHC's Project Safety Net will provide access to individuals in homes, schools, churches, and libraries across Harris County, through a single interactive website. By a sweep of the curser over the map viewers will be able to obtain the clinic location, services offered, hours of operation, cost and languages spoken. The simplicity of this tool eases in identifying the clinic most optimal for clients' health care needs directly imporving access. To assist health planners and policy makers in identifying areas of greatest health need in relation to existing resources, information of the Safety Net map may be layered over demographic information on an interactive web site. Project Safety Net is expected to be a valuable tool for the newly created county-wide Public Health System Council whose goal is to study and strengthen the regional health safety net.

Learning Objectives: