Join the VA Office of Health Equity for July’s Focus on Health
Equity and Action Cyberseminar session. The
session will focus on the EMPOWER research project and the Make the Connection video
project targeting vulnerable Veteran groups. Presenters will focus on effective
strategies for communicating about health disparities and other health equity
issues among Veterans and healthcare professionals.
Using Effective Communication of Healthcare Disparities and Vulnerabilities to Empower Professionals, Veterans and Stakeholders
Thursday, July 27, 2017
3:00 – 4:00pm EST
Panelist will discuss the following:
-
Key
findings of the EMPOWER project which was designed to understand how to
effectively communicate with healthcare professionals about healthcare
disparities;
-
Using
tailored peer to peer Veteran stories of recovery to connect Veterans, family
members, friends, and other supporters with information, resources, and
solutions to issues affecting their lives; and
-
Operational
and research partnerships executed by the Office of Health Equity to
advance the goals of the VA Health Equity Action Plan.
Confirmed Speakers
-
Diana Burgess,
PhD
Health Science Researcher, VA Minneapolis Healthcare System, Minneapolis,
MN
-
Wendy Tenhula,
PhD
Deputy Chief Consultant for Specialty MH, VA Central Office, Washington,
DC
-
Uchenna S.
Uchendu, MD
Chief Officer, Office of Health Equity, VA Central Office, Washington, DC
Background Resources
The VA Office of Health Equity will not be hosting a Focus
on Health Equity and Action Cyberseminar for the month of August. In
the meantime, please check out past sessions of the Focus
on Health Equity and Action Cyberseminar. Please stay tuned for
September’s session.
-
Chronic
Health Conditions among Vulnerable Veterans: Current Research and Action (June
29, 2017)
-
Military
Service History and VA Benefit Utilization for Minority Veterans
(April 27, 2017)
-
Incorporating
Social Determinants of Health into VHA Patient Care and Electronic Medical
Records (March 30, 2017)
-
Using
Veterans’ Stories to Promote Health Equity and Reduce Disparities (February
23, 2017)
-
State
of VHA Care for Vulnerable Veterans (January 26, 2017)
-
Release
of the Inaugural VHA National Veteran Health Equity Report
(October 27, 2016)
-
National
Expert Panel Discussion on TBI & Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Morbidity
& Mortality among Vulnerable Veterans (June 30, 2016)
-
Race/Ethnicity
Data Collection in the Veterans Health Administration
(April 28, 2016)
-
Using
Data to Characterize Vulnerable Veteran Populations
(March 24, 2016)
-
Treatment
of HCV-ALD Among VHA Vulnerable Populations (February 25, 2016)
-
Findings
from the VISN 4 Hypertension Racial Disparities Quality Improvement Project
(January 21, 2016)
-
Office
of Health Equity Hepatitis C Virus-Advanced Liver Disease Disparities Dashboard
(November
19, 2015)
-
Disparities
in Healthcare Quality Indicators among Adults with Mental Illness: A systematic
review (April 27, 2015)
-
Partnership
in Pursuit of Health Equity: Focus on Minority Veterans
(September 24, 2014)
-
ACA-Health Equity/Disparities
Connection (March 5, 2014)
-
VHA
Office of Health Equity- What is it all about? (November
4, 2013)
Photo caption: OHE Chief Officer engages researchers
and stakeholders at the 2017 HSR&D/QUERI National Conference
What are your ideas and/or suggestions for tackling disparities among Veterans with chronic diseases like diabetes and obesity?
The VA
Office of Health Equity oversees agency efforts to champion
health equity efforts on behalf of Veterans—especially those vulnerable
Veterans who experience health and healthcare disparities because of their
membership in patient groups historically and currently linked to social or
economic disadvantage.
We often ask during our engagement meetings for ideas
and/or suggestions for tackling disparities among Veterans. Here are some
recent suggestions that we have received from the field for addressing chronic
conditions such as diabetes and obesity among Veterans:
- Increase Healthy Teaching Kitchen programming to
help address disparities in diabetes and obesity.
- Teach culturally relevant healthy cooking.
- Expose Veterans to healthy low cost foods as
many Veterans do not have much exposure to a variety of local fresh fruits and
vegetables.
- Provide training to providers and clinicians on
weight discrimination in health care.
- Develop health promotion messages that
underscore the following message: taking care of yourself allows you to take
care of the others that you love.
- Increase the availability of education,
programs and services for families and support group to support Veterans.
- Engage community health workers to improve Veteran access, engagement, and outcomes.
- Create partnerships with the Department of
Defense and community wellness organizations like YMCA to leverage peer support
for Veteran fitness and wellbeing.
- Examine the contribution of VA provider
communication in diabetes and hypertension counseling.
-
Measure provider implicit bias to determine how
this affects patient outcomes.
-
Work with VINCI to develop a national
interactive dashboard that facilities can use to track disparities at their
individual facilities in real time.
The VA Health
Equity Action Plan encourages incorporating
the innovative ideas and input of all users in order to encourage bottom up
approach while maintaining a strong connection to the overarching goals of the
VA. Now it is your turn. The VA Office of Health Equity wants
to hear from Veterans, health professionals, and other stakeholders.
What are your ideas and/or suggestions for tackling disparities among Veterans with chronic diseases like diabetes and obesity?
Email your suggestions to healthequity@va.gov and help shape how the VA addresses Veteran disparities.
The HHS Office of
Minority Health , CDC National
Center for Health Statistics and HHS
Office of Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion are pleased to announce
the release of a new
health disparities data widget. The widget provides an easy way to find
health disparities data related to the
Healthy People 2020 objectives for the Leading Health Indicators (LHIs). LHIs
are critical health issues that, when addressed, will help reduce the
leading causes of death and preventable illnesses.
The widget provides charts and graphs of disparities data
at your fingertips. Use the widget to browse data by:
- Disparity type—including disability, education,
income, location, race and ethnicity, and sex
- Leading Health Indicator
The above graphic shows suicide disparities data by race
and ethnicity for 2015 from the recently released data widget.
Suicide
prevention is a top priority for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA
Factsheet).
Did you know that American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) Veterans
are at increased risk for suicide? According to the latest US Census, AIAN
represent less than 1% of the US population. However, rates of suicide for AIAN
are higher than those of other racial and ethnic groups [Source,
Source].
According to the Veteran
Outreach Toolkit: Preventing Veteran Suicide is Everyone’s Business (A
Community Call to Action):
American Indian and Alaska
Native (AI/AN) communities have troubling suicide rates. Outreach events for
AI/AN communities should be a community priority to increase wellness, decrease
stigma, and prevent suicide. Engaging leaders within the AI/AN communities,
tribes, schools, and reservations is key to sharing resources. Building public
health campaigns targeting AI/AN communities is a priority for organizations
such as the Indian Health Service, National Action Alliance for Suicide
Prevention, and Suicide Prevention Resource Center.
We hope this new tool helps inform your programs, policies,
research, and other actions related to achieving health equity.
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