Greetings! Happy May! I hope you are enjoying some warmer weather and the sun (when it has made an appearance)!
I think of our work in 3 major buckets: In, Out, and With; each of these are highlighted here in our updates to you.
- IN: This is the work we are doing as an organization to transform ourselves to advance health equity. I am excited about the work we are doing to join other health departments across the country in becoming an Academic Health Department.
- OUT: We can advance health equity and create a healthier community through greater connections with community residents like you and establishing greater strategic partnerships. Our Money, Our Voice and Healthy Louisville 2025 our examples of what we can envision and accomplish together!
- WITH: Advancing equity takes many of us working toward a shared vision. Louisville Metro Government adopted a new data standardization policy on how to collect sex and gender identity information and we’re making sure the Department of Public Health & Wellness implements these changes across our programs and projects.
We look forward to continuing this work with you!
 |
-
Participatory Budgeting 2019
- Voting for ‘Our Money, Our Voice’ closed March 15. We’re so excited to announce there are 5 winning projects! See our website for all the details.
-
Health Impact Assessment – Senate Bill 18
- Senate Bill 18, also known as the Pregnant Workers Act, protects pregnant workers who need reasonable modifications in the workplace due to their pregnant. CHE conducted a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) to research the connection between pregnancy health and work environments to inform the discussion. Governor Bevin signed the Pregnant Workers Act on April 9, 2019 and it will be effective on June 27, 2019. See the full HIA
-
Louisville’s Community Health Improvement Plan – Healthy Louisville 2025
- The Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness (LMPHW) coordinated the development of Healthy Louisville 2025 (HL 2025) -- an action plan for improving the health of people living and working in our community. HL 2025 aims to identify opportunities to drive more attention, resources, or collaboration to areas the community wants to improve. See more information here.
In an effort to achieve our mission of advancing health equity, we have formally included expansive gender identity options into internal forms that residents complete for appointments, surveys, and more. Over the past few months, a series of internal training's have also been held for all staff who regularly engage with residents to inform them about our new Data Standardization Gender Identity policy. The purpose of the policy is by obtaining this data it will help to improve our programs as well as create new initiatives based on the needs of the populations we serve. If you’re interested in learning more about this policy, contact us at healthequity@louisvilleky.gov
Below is an example of a gender identity question prior to changes:
Below is an example of the updated question:
In late 2018, Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness (LMPHW) transitioned to an Academic Health Department (AHD). Academic Health Departments partner with accredited Schools of Public Health to educate and train future public health professionals by connecting academia to practice. While we have a formal relationship with the University of Louisville’s School of Public Health and Information Sciences (SPHIS), we also have a variety of academic partners across the state of Kentucky. The structure of an AHD is similar to teaching hospitals who train nursing and medical students; a public health department provides a practice setting for public health students to apply their learning in the classroom to the field.
Our partnership with UofL involves several shared appointments, including the longstanding sharing of LMPHW’s Director and Chief Health Strategist, Dr. Sarah Moyer. Dr. Moyer also serves as an Assistant Professor in the Health Management department at SPHIS. Dr. Leslie Wolf, LMPHW’s Laboratory Director and Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory in UofL’s School of Medicine. The Dean of SPHIS, Dr. Craig Blakely, is an advisory member of the LMPHW Board of Health.
Several faculty members across a variety of universities collaborate with LMPHW staff on projects and community initiatives. LMPHW staff also provide lectures to public health, medical, dental, social work, and other students about practicing in the field and our work. Students from several of our academic partner institutions also work on practical projects that LMPHW incorporate into daily work.
Dr. Billie Castle, our first Academic Health Coordinator, was hired in September 2018 to build and expand upon our academic relationships. “I’m excited to strengthen LMPHW’s academic partnerships to provide opportunities for students to gain hands on experience at the health department. While it is designed for the students to learn from us, we learn a lot from them as well. Our academic partnerships also allow for us to incorporate rigorous methodology to our programs and projects, ensuring that we are meeting our mission of achieving health equity and improving the health and well-being of ALL Louisville residents and visitors. Greater things will come from our Academic Health Department leaving a big footprint in the field of public health.”
For more information on Academic Health Departments take a look HERE.
 Mass Incarceration Threatens Health Equity in America
https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2019/01/mass-incarceration-threatens-health-equity-in-america.html
University of Louisville School of Medicine -eQuality
http://louisville.edu/medicine/ume/curriculum/equality/about-equality
NAMI Mental Health Walk 2019
https://namilouisville.org/
Jeffersontown High School Podcast-The Umbrella of No Judgment
https://radiopublic.com/the-umbrella-of-no-judgment-GEvwK4 |
