Center for Community Health Equity celebrates two years as an engine for partnership and innovation
Providing naloxone kits and training to prevent opioid overdoses. Boosting research study participation among marginalized communities. Advocating for legislation to address the social determinants of health.
Those are just a few of the projects the M Health Fairview Center for Community Health Equity has undertaken in partnership with key community groups and organizations since it opened in 2022 as part of its mission to advance regional health equity. The center’s initiatives are shaped and guided by a work group that includes leaders from our academic health system. Their efforts align with the M Health Fairview HOPE Commission, which was created to help our health system become an antiracist organization.
“The past two years have been action-packed and I’m proud of the positive impact we’ve had in our communities so far,” said Diane Tran, executive director, M Health Fairview Center for Community Health Equity. “Every day I see evidence of our vision being realized as we collaborate in new and meaningful ways.”
Three key strategies
Located at the Fairview Community Health and Wellness Hub in downtown St. Paul, the Center for Community Health Equity has three key strategies to advance health equity:
- Address the social determinants of health by serving as a community incubator.
The social determinants of health, like stable housing and accessing to healthy food, have an outsized effect on health. By convening various groups and serving as a community innovation incubator, we can identify which solutions are the most impactful, and then scale those to have as broad or deep a reach as possible. Our work includes programming, partnerships, research, and policy leadership. For example, the center co-developed culturally responsive opioid prevention and overdose reversal training with community partners. The team hosts regular trainings, offered in Somali, Spanish, and English. Participants pack naloxone kits, a medication that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose and can save lives. Fairview also hosts four low-barrier naloxone access points at locations across the system.
- Build trusting partnerships and lift community voices.
We’re building our community engagement infrastructure so that we can get better at listening to and talking with community members. A strong dialogue means community insights will always inform our health system’s efforts. Likewise, it means that the community is in a better position to learn about important news and resources from us. Our Community Advisory Councils are a key connection point for this work. The volunteer councils provide community insights and voices, advise us on local needs and resources, and help us identify key partners and plans to advance community health and health equity. We are continually working to expand and diversify Community Advisory Council membership.
- Lead internal transformation so that our health system is more inclusive for our employees, patients, and community members.
The center focuses inward to transform our internal structures to create an antiracist and inclusive environment for our employees and patients. An example of this is the center’s partnership with Fairview Frontiers, our research partner. Together, we are working to increase enrollment in research studies so that more racial and cultural backgrounds have representation. In 2023, Fairview Frontiers more than doubled clinical trial participation from Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) patients from 15.5% to 33.8%.
On Capitol Hill
The Center for Community Health Equity, in close partnership with Fairview’s public policy team and others, advocates for our patients and community members at the Minnesota State Capitol. Our goal is to advance policies that address the social determinants of health. We’re focused on three areas: Food is Medicine, Housing is Health, and Connection is Cure.
“Our team is again active at the Capitol this legislative session, making our voices heard in support of those affected by health inequities,” said Tran. “We are joining together with our trusted community partners to amplify our messages and influence policy change.”
In 2023, we participated in community-led Day on the Hill events focused on hunger and homelessness. The team joined American Indian Day on the Hill last year – and will do so again in May 2024.
Fairview signed on for a second year to the “Partners to End Hunger” coalition led by Hunger Solutions. We also recently signed a letter to support housing program funding in the FY24 federal budget and to expand and reform the low-income housing tax credit.
The center is leading and convening the advocacy sub-committee of Healthcare for Housing. The cohort developed out of the Housing and Health Equity Fellows program from the Greater MN Housing Fund. Together, with other healthcare providers, the cohort will review policy proposals to understand how they will affect the health of our communities. We will also provide an expert voice on the link between housing and health.
In addition, our organization is participating in the Birth Justice Collaborative to help co-design and advocate for strategies that improve birth outcomes, particularly in African American and American Indian communities.
In the community
Since it was established, the center has hosted and participated in events that connect resources, services, and local community-building projects.
Last June, the center hosted M Health Fairview’s official Pride flag-raising ceremony at the Fairview Community Health and Wellness Hub in partnership with the Pride Alliance Group for Equality (PAGE) Employee Resource Group and joined other groups from across our health system at Twin Cities Pride in 2023.
M Health Fairview participated in several local Pow Wows last year and is scheduled to attend more in 2024. At the events, volunteers offered free blood pressure checks, provided job opening information, and presented “ask the pharmacists” sessions. On April 28, 2024, in support and celebration of our Indigenous neighbors, our organization will host a Pow Wow in St. Paul in partnership with the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, American Indian Family Center, Saint Paul Public Schools Indian Education Program, and South St. Paul Public Schools American Indian Education Program.
Finally, our Workforce Partnership team and several recruiters hosted an open house for our Native American and Indigenous neighbors last year to share information about career opportunities and pathways.
In 2023, Fairview was nationally recognized at the American Hospital Association’s Accelerating Health Equity Conference. Our Community Advancement, Workforce Partnerships, Equity Strategy, and clinical care staff – along with Fairview Board of Directors members – were participants and featured speakers. We spotlighted the ways that our healthcare system is advancing health equity inside and outside our walls.
“These approaches are focused on building trust and partnerships,” said Tran. They are helping our system become more accessible and capable, and allowing us to advance inclusive care, experiences, and outcomes for our patients and communities. “This is foundational in our ongoing work to eliminate health disparities and improve health and wellbeing inside and outside of our hospital and clinic walls and across our region.”
