Ensuring the Health of America’s Children: Progress and Opportunities
Behind the headlines of a weakened U.S. economy and rising unemployment are two related developments: the transformation of health care coverage into an issue of real salience to working families and the middle class, and the ways in which states have crafted, and will continue to craft, an effective response.
Community Advisory Committees: Collaboration and Shared Learning
As a result of turmoil in world financial markets and a faltering economy in the United States, economic pressures on communities have intensified the risk of many people being overlooked or ignored; many are not receiving the health care they and their families need.
Cultivating Health Literacy at the State and National Levels
In 2004 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a landmark report on the state of health literacy in the United States. That report, Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion, pulled together a growing body of information indicating that health literacy deficits are both common – present in nearly half of the U.S. population – and damaging to individual health and well-being.
Improving the Health of Vulnerable Children with Medical-Legal Partnerships
ubstandard housing, polluted neighborhoods, and inadequate nutrition are just a few of the “nonmedical” problems that can compromise children’s health status and developmental trajectory. The most visible result of these threats can be a frustrating, expensive, and heartbreakingly preventable trip to the doctor’s office or local emergency room.
Evaluating Programs: Can We Measure the Value of Health Grantmaking?
Partnering with policymakers and members of the business community is an effective way to increase the impact of health grantmaking by working cross-sectorally, and evaluating the effectiveness of these partnerships will help sustain interest in such collaborations.
Transforming Health Care: Services for Older Adults Can Drive High Quality Chronic Care for All
The health of older adults in this country is an increasingly critical concern, with ramifications for every sector of society and philanthropy. It is time to plan seriously for the demographic change now happening.
Faith in Action: Taking Caregiving to Scale
Over the course of the past fifteen years, the Faith in Action program has provided roughly 1,700 seed grants of up to $35,000 to help start local, interfaith volunteer caregiving programs. These programs are designed to provide free volunteer services to the large and growing number of elderly and disabled individuals who need help with simple, everyday tasks in order to be able to stay in their homes.
Climate Change Is a Health Problem
The debate is over; climate change is real. Further, the human health impacts of climate change are now being felt. The World Health Organization estimated that since 1990, climatic changes already have claimed at least 150,000 deaths and an additional 5.5 million years of life lost to premature death or lived with disabilities (2003).
Strong Ethics Policy Creates a Culture of Transparency
Almost daily, we are faced with making ethical decisions in our personal and professional lives. This is particularly true for those of us who work at foundations. Foundation board members and staff are often subject to intense pressure to provide funds for particular organizations.
A Foundation Helps Launch a FQHC
For the past decade, free-market thinking has all but dominated the national discussion of health care. New kinds of coverage have resulted, including health savings accounts, along with new players in delivery, like the urgi-care clinics at Wal-Mart.