The Southwest PA Area Health Education Center’s proposal has won the Healthy Allegheny Challenge – in partnership with Birmingham Free Clinic, Hilltop Community Health Center, Lawrenceville Family Health Center, Sto-Rox Neighborhood Health Council, and the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Center for Public Health Practice. The team will receive a $1.5 million grant over three years to implement the Roots of Health project.
About the Project:
Roots of Health: A Community Health Worker Collaborative focuses on providing healthcare to the region’s most vulnerable residents. With a focus on reaching under-served individuals, this collaborative will recruit and train trusted community members to become community health workers (CHW), advocates who serve as a liaison between health centers and at-risk patients who face physical, mental, or dental health challenges. Medical care alone is insufficient for ensuring better health. Up to 80% of health outcomes are determined by social factors, and it is these social factors that often perpetuate health disparities, most disproportionately in vulnerable groups. Often the missing link for people to successfully address their health and social needs is the individualized advocacy, intimate knowledge of the community and community members, and navigating community-specific health and social service needs that a CHW can bring to the table.
Read more at: https://hillmanfamilyfoundations.org/healthy-allegheny-challenge/ or check out the Pittsburgh Post Gazette article.