142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

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A public health care plan's evolving model to enhance community assets and promote wellness in low-income communities of color

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014

Jammie Hopkins, DrPH, MS , Wellness Consulting, WORK IT OUT Wellness Services, Atlanta, GA
Peter Prampetch, MPH , Community Outreach and Education, L.A. Care Health Plan, Los Angeles, CA
Devina Kuo, MPH , Community Outreach & Education Department, L.A. Care Health Plan, Los Angeles, CA
Judy Hsieh, MA, MFTI , Community Outreach and Education, L.A. Care Health Plan, Los Angeles, CA
Auleria Eakins, MPA , Community Outreach and Education, L.A. Care Health Plan, Los Angeles, CA
Sound investments in effective prevention are crucial. The nation’s largest public health care plan has prioritized prevention by empowering key community stakeholders and tailoring prevention efforts to populations with the greatest need. This presentation will present a conceptual framework for community-driven disease prevention and health promotion that may serve to inform healthcare systems looking to engage historically “hard to reach” low-income communities of color in quality prevention efforts.

L.A. Care maintains 11 Regional Community Advisory Committees (RCACs) comprised of key community stakeholders who reside or conduct business in Los Angeles County, CA. RCAC members meet regularly to participate in trainings, advise L.A. Care employees on the specific needs of their respective communities, and recruit community members into targeted prevention projects.  Approximately 323 community members actively participate in the RCACs and have made personal contact with over 100,000 low-income community members over the past four years. In addition, a cohort of lay health promoters has been trained by L.A. Care staff in peer health education, biometrics data collection, motivational interviewing, and health care reform.

Over the past three years L.A. Care staff, RCAC members, and health promoters have engaged approximately 950 high-risk participants in the Active Steps Project, a 16-week community-based physical activity and nutrition promotion project. These efforts have led to statistically significant improvements in participants’ weight, blood pressure, physical activity levels, and nutrition knowledge.. Lessons learned from Active Steps have informed best methods to engage participants, project curriculum, and peer/family support mechanisms.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Advocacy for health and health education
Chronic disease management and prevention
Diversity and culture
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Discuss a public health’s plans unique approach to establishing rapport and building capacity among community stakeholders to address persistent health issues. Assess the impact of community-engaged prevention and health education effort on community members’ health knowledge, access to health services, behavioral change, and obesity-related risk factors. Identify strengths, weaknesses, threats, opportunities, and lessons learned from employing an integrative approach to engage local people in their own solutions.

Keyword(s): Community-Based Partnership & Collaboration, Wellness

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am intimately involved in all aspects of the program described in the proposal. I am a public health professional with significant experience in community outreach and engagement, and am invested in community-based physical activity, healthy eating, and health promotion.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.