The Georgia Health Policy Center recently spoke to Annie Jones, the network director, and Liza Nicholson, deputy director of public health programs at the West Central Alabama Area Health Education Center (AEHC) about their success in developing a foundational health collaborative for improving population health across a six-county region.
To date, what has been the biggest accomplishment or win in your program?
Annie: The biggest accomplishment to date has been the development of the Southwest Alabama Healthcare Collaborative (SAHC), which became a recognized entity with the development of the collaborative’s bylaws in year one of the grant. It is a very diverse group of seven network partners, including a local hospital, a primary care clinic, a health and wellness education center, a resource center, and a faith-based network. Throughout year 1, the SAHC implemented and expanded successful programs in four of the six counties in our project service area, including the Walk with Ease program and the G.O. [Goldenrod Outreach] Successful Life Initiative in partnership with our amazing community partners. These programs revolve around individuals, with high-risk health factors such as obesity, that are implementing healthy lifestyle changes that are resulting in positive outcomes, including a weight loss average of 19 pounds over three months.
What is a tip or early learning that you would share with an organization launching a similar network? Annie: The most important thing that I learned throughout my first year is the importance of regularly engaging your network partners. We have monthly meetings, but additionally, I like to meet individually with the partners throughout the month to support them in their endeavors, to see if they need support in their programs, and to build a strong rapport. The rapport built among network members has been the greatest propeller of success of the activities and from this, I have seen our members start to engage more with me and each other, which has really helped us meet our goals.
Liza: Look for organizations with missions that align with what your organization or network is trying to accomplish. That way you get that buy-in immediately. If they see you are supporting them in the work that they are currently doing, they are more likely to be more engaged when it comes to providing or sharing resources amongst the network partners. There will, of course, be some organizations that are just not a good fit. You may be able to work together on similar projects in the future, but for building a network, you want to collaborate with organizations that share a similar end goal to ensure a mutually beneficial partnership.
How do you see participation in the Network Development Grant Program impacting your broader health improvement efforts?
Liza: The mission of West Central Alabama AHEC is to improve health equity, population health, and to support the health care workforce. Participating in this grant program has provided the organization a solid formal network that gives the opportunity to have a sustained health care collaborative. We can now utilize this formalized network and look at other potential funding and partnership opportunities, such as maternal health and substance use disorder, as well as ways to help justice-involved individuals. These are just some of the focus areas we have initiated to branch off this network as subcommittees indicating a broader health improvement impact in our communities. Rural areas typically do not have a lot of resources, so we are certainly fortunate to have this as our foundation, to be able to build upon for future community-focused endeavors.
What’s next on the horizon for your grant-funded program?
Liza: I cannot say enough great things about community health workers and their value. We have witnessed them successfully work across many different projects and areas to improve the health of the communities they serve. We are planning to bring community health workers in for this program, and we are excited to see how they can further assist when it comes to heart disease and diabetes management, prevention, and education. We will be placing them in clinical facilities to help connect individuals to appointments, preventive services, and social support services.