inside Washtenaw County Public Health

health: Community health advocates look at social factors that contribute to health disparities

By Washtenaw County Public Health AnnArbor.com Community Contributor

Posted on Thu, May 3, 2012 : 9:50 a.m.

Late in 2009, a partnership group led by Washtenaw County Public Health (WCPH) applied for and received Michigan Department of Community Health funding to address health disparities in Washtenaw County. The grant is in the second year of a three- year cycle in which WCPH and its partners will address the social determinants (or social factors) that contribute to health disparities among the African-American community in Washtenaw County.

This pilot program will concentrate on the south side of Ypsilanti known as the Gateway Community (GC). The GC was chosen for the following reasons:

Infrastructure (Parkridge Community Center; Hope Clinic; WCC Harriet Street Center; on the bus line; and churches)
Demographics (i.e., high density of African-Americans in relatively small area)
High-need area of the county

The Community Health Advocate (CHA) program is addressing three main social factors, and the CHAs were trained to serve 250 GC residents (in fiscal year 2012) in these areas:

Healthier food access (e.g., fresh fruits and veggies)

Access to government-sponsored insurance programs (e.g., Medicaid eligibility)

Emotional/well-being support (e.g., self care between doctor visits, advocacy resources)

A best-practice intervention called Community Health Advocacy (CHA) that involves training lay persons to assist members of a community address the social factors (e.g., transportation, education, safe neighborhoods) that influence their health was developed.

12 trained Community Health Advocates (September 2011)
Created a manual for CHA trainings
CHA hours are noon-4 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
Established a CHA sub group (which includes four trained CHAs) that guides the functions and roles of CHAP

Parkridge Community Center (591 Armstrong, Ypsilanti) will be the main hub for the program (and the CHAs are present at GC events such as health fairs, farmers markets etc). We relied on our grant partners (listed below) to help identify our CHAs. Our criteria included: