The health of Americans has improved over the past few decades, but not all Americans have benefited equally. Many ethnic and racial groups have not shared in the advances in health outcomes and health care. The metropolitan Atlanta area in particular has more than 50% of the population being classified as minority status. To understand the causes and factors of these inequalities, the Health Education, Assessment and Leadership (H.E.A.L.) coalition will convene to elucidate these issues. The initial phase of the HEAL coalition will function to establish a biannual meeting to initiate discourse and coordinate community (CO) organizations (civic, health, religious, spiritual), academic institutions and the lay public to address the health issues of minorities in the metropolitan Atlanta area. These conferences will create alliances between COs, academic institutions and the lay public. The HEAL coalition will function to assess the needs and assets of the Atlanta community by including these individual groups to initiate an integrated approach to healthcare in underserved communities. From these conferences, baseline data on health disparity in the Atlanta area will be collected. Also, a website indicating the assets of the community will be established and linked to the websites of the participants. In the second phase of the inception of HEAL, a series of working conferences to continue the progression of the initiative will be launched. In addition, a complete curricular program will be created by the collaboration of the participants (COs, academic institutions and lay public) to address these health disparities. In the third phase, the HEAL coalition will institute the complete curricular program within COs. Funding is requested for the establishment of the initial conference. ? ? ?
| Moore, Charles E; Durden, Frederick (2010) Head and neck cancer screening in homeless communities: HEAL (Health Education, Assessment, and Leadership). J Natl Med Assoc 102:811-6 |
