Health Equity

Our Health Equity pillar works towards increasing healthy living practices with our Wellness Wednesday curriculum, which includes Una Hora Con La Doctora, Mental Health Talks, and our Nutrition Class. These programs provide access to free educational workshops with bilingual health professionals who can provide awareness on health problems facing our community today. We are grateful to continue these partnerships with Dr. Sarah Lopez and Dr. Celda-Dalton for the past 10 years. Additionally, we are celebrating 10 years of Zumba with our lovely instructor, Hortencia, who leads our Zumba classes at Madison Elementary School. We want to connect our community members and contribute to positive changes in their physical health. To continue sharing our programs with the community, we work with a multitude of Promotoras, or Community Health Workers, who canvass in the surrounding areas, speaking to residents and businesses on various health equity topics. This allows us to better connect with the needs of the community and continue to improve the overall well-being of Santaneros.

GREEN-MPNA programs for healthier living.

  • Una Hora Con La Doctora
  • Diabetes Control and Management
  • Nutrition and Healthy Foods
  • Mental Health
One of GREEN’s biggest strengths is the way that it influences and impacts the individuals [and] who are in the families who are part of it.
- Community Researcher

Why do we have a focus on Health Equity and the above approaches?

We live in neighborhoods with high rates of under and uninsured residents, including other factors that negatively impact health. Health education and illness prevention can play a significant role in helping us live healthier lives. Public health studies show good health is reliant on several factors. As corroborated in the following graph by KFF.org, (Figure 1) the Social Determinants of Health include among others, economic stability, clean and healthy neighborhoods, access to a quality education, gainful employment, strong social support networks, adequate housing and access to health care services.

GREEN recognizes that a majority of health is determined by our environments (22%) and behaviors (37%), with only 6% attributed to access to health care. Addressing social determinants of health is important for improving health and reducing longstanding disparities in health and health care.

References:

1.https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/beyond-health-care-the-role-of-social-determinants-in-promoting-health-and-health-equity/
2. https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2016/18-charts-that-make-the-case-for-public-health/