St. John's Well Child and Family Center

St. John’s Well Child and Family Center, a network of federally qualified health centers in south Los Angeles serving more than 160,000 patient visits each year, has embarked on a number of pioneering initiatives to address the social and environmental determinants of health in the communities they serve. In this session, we will describe St. John’s efforts to identify substandard housing conditions in south LA, contributing to a number of health problems in their patient population, and form a coalition of grassroots organizations to pressure landlords and pass local policy to improve the housing. We will also detail St. Johns campaigns to increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables through the establishment of community gardens and recent advocacy efforts to garner support for the creation of a wellness trust in Los Angeles.  Key to all of St. John’s community change efforts is patient engagement and advocacy, and we will describe how our institution fosters empowerment and helps enable patient voices to be heard.