FAITH COMMUNITY: KEY PARTNERS FOR AND IN PUBLIC HEALTH

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FAITH COMMUNITYKEY PARTNERS FOR AND IN PUBLIC
HEALTH

• STEPHANIE BAILEY, MD, MS
• DECEMBER 2005, APHA

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OBJECTIVES

• WHY PARTNER
• THE POWER OF PARTNERING
• ISSUES ENCOUNTERED

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• IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

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Renaldo, age 11, 6th grade

• Mother killed at age 6
• Father lives in East Tennessee
• 3 cousins in household

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Amanda, age 8

• Mother on disability
• Old brother, age 17, in jail
• Older sister, age 15, pregnant
• All three children have separate dad

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Keisha, age 6, 1st grade

• Dad incarcerated
• 5 siblings, older teenage sister has a baby

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Raphael, age 10, 4th Grade

• Mother incarcerated
• waited all day to talk to mentor, wanting only
  to tell her about seeing his sister being shot
  the night before
• Expelled at end of school year (someone said
  something about his
• mother)

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Thomas, kindergarten

• Crack baby
• Kicked out of school for attacking teacher

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Courtney, age 5, kindergarten

• Mother incarcerated
• Aunt raising 7 children, none are hers

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Jackie, age 12, 4th grade

• Family has been put out of MDHA
• Was in room when uncle was shot
• Has been raped
• WHEN SHE GROWS UP. she wants to be a doctor

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• Incarceration
• Handicaps
• Violence, truancy, suspensions
• Mixed families
• Failure (academic)
• Needing and/or wanting attention
• Lack of tools
• Adult indifference
• Low self-esteem

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END POINT

• TO ELIMINATE DISPARITIES
• TO IMPROVE HEALTH STATUS
• TO HAVE HEALTHIER COMMUNITIES
• ______________________________
• REQUIRES THIS PARTNERSHIP

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THE POWER OF PARTNERING

• Bridges to Care
• More than 26,000 uninsured persons enrolled and
  linked to medical homes
• Filled gt83,000 prescriptions gt 1m
• Assisted gt 2000 to enroll in TennCare
• Referred gt 500 to mental health gt200 for AD
  services
• Provided gt2000 transports to the doctor

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.partnering

• All ten Davidson County Hospitals have agreed to
  provide diagnostic, outpatient and inpatient
  hospital services free of charge to BTC Plus
  patients
• gt300 specialists and primary care physicians have
  agreed to treat gt3500 BTC patients over the next
  year for 10 per visit

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..partnering

• TWO CLINICS, AS MEMBERS OF THE CONSORTIUM, ARE
  FAITH-BASED
• THE SISTERS OF ASCENSION HEALTH SYTEMS THROUGH
  ST. THOMAS HOSPITAL started two additional
  clinics in areas of need
• AS TENNCARE DISENROLLED TENNESSEANS..TYING
  NASHVILLE TOGETHER (TNT)

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..partnering

• CREATING A NEEDLE EXCHANGE/HARM REDUCTION PROGRAM
  IN NASHVILLE, TN, 1994
• BIBLE BELT
• CHURCH ON EVERY CORNER
• SAVED BY METROPOLITAN INTERDENOMINATIONAL CHURCH

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.partnering

• DEVELOPING REGIONAL MULTIDISCIPLINE PUBLIC HEALTH
  TEAMS, 1998
• BUDGET CUTS TO DEPARTMENT EACH YEAR BY THE THEN
  MAYOR
• BUDGET SAVED BY COMMUNITY
• MOTHER OF HEALTH

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.partnering

• NASHVILLE, 1999, NUMBER ONE IN THE NATION IN
  RATES OF SYPHILIS
• STIGMA IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY
• STDFREE
• FEBRUARY 14, 2000, LOVE SERMON

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Nashvilles Current Syphilis Epidemic Control
Efforts
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WHY

• PARTNER WITH THE RELIGION AND CHURCHES?

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WHETHER FOR

• INFANT MORTALITY
• SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES
• TO DECREASE THE BURDEN OF CARDIOVASCULAR
  DISEASE/STROKE
• DIABETES
• A PRAYER

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THE THINGS LISTED ON THE CHURCH BROCHURE

• WHEN TO CALL YOUR PASTOR
• SOMEONE SERIOUSLY ILL
• PERSONAL PROBLEMS
• DEPRESSED OR DESPONDENT
• FAMILY PROBLEMS
• A BABY IS BORN
• WORRY OR ANXIETY
• THINKING OF GETTING MARRIED
• ETC

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• 1 IT MAKES SENSE, INTUITIVELY, AND
  ECONOMICALLY!
• 2 IT APPEALS TO OUR SENSE OF FAIRNESS!
• 3 IT GIVES US A WIDER LENS
• 4 IT FUELS OPTIMISM

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ISSUES THAT GET IN THE WAY.

• MISTRUST OF THE GOVERNMENT
• SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
• FAILURE TO THINK SYSTEMICALLY
• THE TOPIC
• THERE WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH MONEY
• POLITICAL POSTURING

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..continue

• THE SCIENCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE DOLLARS
• FAILURE TO STAY FOCUSED ON THE COMMON GOAL

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• He who has a why to live can bear with almost
  any how.
• Nietzsche

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IN CONCLUSION

• WHAT DO I WANT YOU TO THINK?
• WHAT DO I WANT YOU TO FEEL?
• WHAT DO I WANT YOU TO DO?