Evaluation of a community place-based initiative to address health disparities: Outcomes of the Heart to Heart program

Heart 2 Heart (H2H) is a unique collaboration among City of Berkeley Public Health, LifeLong Medical Care (a community health center), and the community. Since 2008, H2H has worked to address health inequities while preventing high blood pressure and heart disease in a South Berkeley neighborhood. H2H uses a holistic, community-based approach to meet the needs of community members, linking members to resources to improve their health as well as services and programs for education and economic stability. The H2H model focuses on building the capacity of residents to create a healthier community in order to ensure sustainability and community ownership of changes.

In Spring 2014, the Samuels Center for Public Health Research & Evaluation worked collaboratively with H2H to conduct 6 focus groups (n=36) with H2H community members to identify program successes and areas of improvements, and to determine new areas of need. Participants represented distinct populations served by H2H including general neighborhood residents, mobile van service users, recipients of minigrants to create community changes, residents of the senior community, and stylists and clients of local barbershop ‘health hubs.’

The evaluation found that H2H is a trusted community resource and effective at building community connections, increasing health knowledge and preventative behaviors, and providing needed services when and where they are needed. Focus groups also identified areas for improvement, including ways to increase outreach to isolated populations. This presentation will highlight these and other key findings and will also describe the collaborative evaluation approach and lessons learned for similar initiatives.