|
An in-depth article in Modern Healthcare provides a helpful overview and history of health systems' focus on the role of social determinants. The article details the important work of Healthcare Anchor Network member Kaiser Permanente to engage government agencies, and to leverage its investment funds to address homelessness and promote affordable housing, healthy eating, active living, and early childhood education. HAN member ProMedica's role in co-founding the Root Cause Coalition and addressing food insecurity was also highlighted.
Also detailed is HAN Member Cleveland Clinic's groundbreaking partnership with the Evergreen Cooperatives to create 100 local jobs and build community wealth by allowing employees to share business ownership in the hospital's supply chain. “We see this as an important step we can take to support the health and well-being of our neighbors,” said Ralph Turner, the Clinic's Executive Director of Patient Support Services. Read the Modern Healthcare article: "Complete care: Hospitals tackling social determinants are setting the course for the industry"
 Wellspring Cooperative Greenhouse in Springfield, Massachussetts planted its first crop in 2018, in a 15,000-square foot facility designed to create employee-owned jobs for nearby low-income community residents—the third cooperative in a growing network. The project's launch was made possible by purchasing commitments from Healthcare Anchor Network members Baystate Health and Trinity Health. (The latter system also helped Wellspring raise the capital it needed to launch by a place-based investment with a local CDFI.)
Read more in WAMC: "Greenhouse Crops Will Come From A Former Brownfields Site" Thanks to an initial $12 million in support from Healthcare Anchor Network member Intermountain Healthcare, a new statewide alliance will be aligning community groups and state, county, and local agencies in a three-year, two-city demonstration project aimed at tackling the underlying social and economic determinants of community health outcomes.
Read coverage in: Becker's Hospital Review | Fierce Healthcare | Desert News | MedCity News Read the Intermountain press release.
Evergreen Cooperative Laundry (ECL) announced a major expansion today in collaboration with Ohio’s second largest employer, taking over management of the Cleveland Clinic’s laundry facility in Cleveland’s Collinwood neighborhood. The expansion brings more than 100 new employees into the company, joining the 50 workers employed at the original laundry. (The Cleveland Clinic is a member of the Healthcare Anchor Network.)
ECL is part of the Evergreen Cooperatives, a nationally celebrated network of companies in Cleveland, Ohio, that creates jobs and builds community wealth through cooperative business ownership. These businesses are located in historically disinvested neighborhoods. For Brett Jones, Executive Vice President at the Evergreen Cooperatives, “this expansion validates the core idea at the heart of the Evergreen model—that businesses owned by workers can succeed and thrive in the market, helping close the wealth gap.” By shifting the contract for the operations of this facility to ECL, Cleveland Clinicis using its economic resources—in this case, where it services more than 19 million lbs of its laundry each year—to build a stronger local economy. Ralph Turner, executive director of patient support services at Cleveland Clinic, said “We are proud of this new collaboration with Evergreen Cooperatives because of the impact it will have on the local community. We see this as an important step we can take to support the health and wellbeing of our neighbors, including the ECL employees.” Read more about the expansion in Next City: "Turning Health Care into Community Wealth in Cleveland" Read the press release. In a powerful feature article, Chicago Magazine explores the stark gap in life expectancy between Chicago's Loop and the neighborhoods of the West Side, and highlights the work of Healthcare Anchor Network member Rush University Medical Center to catalyze a multi-anchor approach to aligning institutional resources to close this "death gap." Read the Chicago Magazine feature article: "A Second City"
A Healthcare Anchor Network member, Boston Medical Center recently announced a $6.5 million package of investments in a range of investments designed to tackle critical community problems. These investments, explicitly framed as upstream interventions in the social determinants of health, will help a variety of community partners provide access to affordable housing, address homelessness, and work for food security.
Read more in The Boston Globe: "Boston Medical Center has a new prescription for its most vulnerable patients: housing" Read Boston Medical Center's press release. One of Boston Medical Center's community partners on these investments is the Healthy Neighborhoods Equity Fund, an interesting example of how healthcare anchor institutions can collaborate on innovative financing for inclusive development with other community stakeholders. Listen to Marketplace on the Healthy Neighborhoods Equity Fund: "Investors make a bet to lift Boston-area neighborhood out of poverty" |
