TAKING ON HEALTH EQUITY OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES
Are you ready to start promoting health equity in your community? Or, do you want to make what you are doing even stronger?
The Health Equity Action Center can help. Follow these four simple steps:
SELF ASSESSMENT
This self-assessment will help you figure out what’s next. These are 14 common problems most communities face in promoting health equity. Note all that apply. To get more information about each, visit the Community Toolbox.
TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE
- We need to understand the community or situation better.
- We don’t understand the problem or goal.
- We don't know what to do to solve the problem.
- There is no clear direction or communication with the group.
- There is not enough community participation.
- There is not enough leadership.
- We are facing opposition or conflict.
- There is not enough action to promote change.
- There is not enough change in the community or system.
- We don't know how to evaluate our program or initiative.
- There is not enough improvement in outcomes.
- There are unintended or unwanted outcomes.
- There is not enough money to sustain the program or initiative.
- We need to assure better conditions for implementation.
THE COMMUNITY TOOLBOX
This Community Toolbox is a step-by-step guide to launching a community health project. In a nutshell, the Community Toolbox provides helpful ideas for running a project from start to finish. There are resources for each of these 5 steps.
We thank the Work Group for Community Health at the University of Kansas for making this resource available free to all online http://ctb.dept.ku.edu/en through a Creative Commons license.
You can also get specific help related to health equity from the Health Equity Action Center team as you get ready for, and after you launch your project.
Here are a few questions we can help you answer:
- What are some of the biggest health challenges in your community?
- How do social factors, like race, income, and environment play a part?
- What goals can a community health equity project realistically achieve?
- What resources are available to help your project?
- Who else is working on health equity in Delaware, and how do we connect with them?
JOIN THE ACTION CENTER AND LET US HELP YOU GET STARTED
Please fill out this brief inquiry and share your contact information. Also, please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter if you care to. Your contact information, and information about your project will not be published without your permission. A member of the Delaware Division of Public Health’s health equity action team will review the information and contact you.
Get Started →HEALTH EQUITY GUIDE
This Health Equity Guide explores all of the major themes, frameworks, and approaches regarding health equity, all while keeping the context of Delaware in mind.
Table of Contents:
- SECTION 1: Introduction
- SECTION 2: Background
- SECTION 3: The Case for Change
- SECTION 4: Upstream Strategies for Community Health
- SECTION 5: Upstream Strategies for Health Care Providers
- SECTION 6: Policy-Oriented Strategies
- SECTION 7: Data, Research, and Evaluation for Health Equity
- SECTION 8: Leadership for Health Equity
Learning About Health Equity
Visit our What is Health Equity page, and check out some of these additional resources.
On Video
On the Web
- Choose Health Delaware. December 2013. Delaware’s State Health Care Innovation Plan
- Delaware Health and Social Services. Delaware Health Care Commission
- Delaware Health and Social Services, Division of Public Health. Community Health Status 2013, April 1, 2013
- Delaware Division of Public Health. (2008). Delaware racial and ethnic health disparities health status report card
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Community Health. (2013). A Practitioner’s Guide for Advancing Health Equity: Community Strategies for Preventing Chronic Disease. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services.
- Policy Link. (2014). Equity Tools
- Prevention Institute. Health Equity Guide for Public Health Practitioners
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation [RWJF]. (2010). A new way to talk about the social determinants of health
In Printed Materials
Partial List of Health Resources
Dial 2-1-1 for Help Me Grow.
This telephone based service can help you connect with programs, services and helpful information about health, parenting, and child development. Just dial 2-1-1, and a specially trained Help Me Grow specialist will help you. It is free, confidential, and brought to you by United Way and the Delaware Division of Public Health. You can call as often as you like. Calls are toll-free.
Hours of operation
Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
NOTE: If you have an EMERGENCY dial 9-1-1, or your local emergency response number.
Healthy Women, Healthy Babies Program.
Healthy Women, Healthy Babies is a program for women who are pregnant, planning to be pregnant or who just want to live healthier lives. Services include personal health and wellness, nutrition, family planning, mental health and prenatal care if you get pregnant. It’s a free program for women who qualify, offered at over 20 care sites throughout Delaware. To find out if you qualify, find a provider near you and connect with them by clicking here.
Home Visiting Program
The Home Visiting Program makes it easier for you to care for your new baby, or growing family. They even help if you are pregnant. Home visitors are nurses or trained specialists who provide information and support to have a healthy pregnancy, to breastfeed and care for baby, to raise young children, and to take care of your own health. They’ll come to you on your schedule. Enrollment is free, learn more by dialing 2-1-1 Help Me Grow.
Health Ambassadors Program
Health Ambassadors help families live healthier lives. Health Ambassadors help you from the time you are thinking about having a baby, to when you are raising a healthy family. Health Ambassadors connect you with help in the community, including health care, social services, home visiting and much more. They also share information you can use every day.
DE Thrives
DE Thrives is the website home of many health programs for women, men, teens, children and infants. Many resources are available to those with limited income, or who have special health challenges. DE Thrives also has an area where you can order materials, such as Safe Sleep Guides, Adult and Teen Life Plans, and more.