The Baltimore City Health Department and the Vision For Health Consortium serve as a catalyst for change in policy and the health and human services systems of Baltimore City, while promoting the health of city residents. Its mission is to provide residents with access to comprehensive, preventive quality health services and care, as well as to ensure a healthy environment. The Health Department hopes to achieve this mission by working in partnership with the community, elected officials, and providers to offer the best possible health services; reducing the incidence of risk factors among adolescents that lead to unhealthy outcomes; and advocating for health, mental hygiene, environmental, and substance abuse services where they are needed.
Much of the Health Department's Community Voices work focuses on working within the Sandtown-Winchester community to redefine health. Working in cooperation with community-based organizations, the Health Department has opened a Men's Health Clinic, the first such facility in the nation. This free clinic serves uninsured men ages 19 to 64, providing primary and dental care, substance abuse counseling, and even links to jobs. By addressing violence, unemployment, and substance abuse issues, the Health Department is looking beyond traditional medical care to a more sustainable and effective community health approach. Its vision of health care for all has helped inspire The Maryland Citizen's Health Initiative, a statewide citizen's movement.
Project Scope
The Baltimore City Health Department serves the entire city of Baltimore. Specific Community Voices work targets the 10,500 residents of the Sandtown-Winchester community of Baltimore, Maryland. This 72-block community is largely African American and has significant rates of substance abuse. The unemployment rate is 17.8 percent. The Community Voices project is targeting those residents least likely to be reached by other programs including recently released ex-offenders to provide quality care. The underserved in this community include uninsured, underinsured, low-income, and unemployed.
Under the Community Voices initiative, the Health Department focuses on six primary goals:
- To implement a system of Health Care for All
- To reduce substance abuse and related issues (i.e. HIV/AIDS, crime)
- To reduce incidence of syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)
- To prevent child and adolescent morbidity and mortality
- To increase community participation in environmental health issues
- To increase cancer awareness and promoting early detection
Project Activities
Outreach
The Baltimore City Health Department reaches out to community members to provide substance abuse referrals, physicals, health assessment and screenings, HIV/AIDS referrals, immunizations, and health education. In 1998, the project began holding monthly Outreach Network luncheon meetings for all outreach workers who serve Sandtown-Winchester. Since that time, the Community Outreach Workers Association of Maryland has been formed. It is a coalition of outreach workers within Baltimore and the surrounding communities. The organization provides an outlet for networking with others in related fields.
Men's Health Center
In collaboration with community-based organizations, the Baltimore City Health Department opened the nation's first health center for uninsured men between the ages of 19 and 64, many of whom are not eligible for government health programs. The primary goal of the Men's Health Center is to increase health care access for uninsured and underserved males in Baltimore City. The center is strategically located one block from the Sandtown-Winchester community. The center's aim is to reduce the number of people without health care coverage and to utilize community-based programs to reach those often alienated from the health care system. A significant number of those served are newly released ex-offenders. The center opened its doors on April 3, 2000, and saw over 1,200 uninsured men in the first two months of operation. The center is currently serving an average of 30 uninsured men per day.
Oral Health
Community Voices is actively assessing gaps in dental care within the Sandtown-Winchester community. An agreement between the University of Maryland Dental School and neighborhood dental facilities for the provision of dental care in the community is now underway. The Dental School has agreed to design and implement a community-based rotation of dental students, with assistance from community-based dentists. In addition, the Men's Health Center provides dental services to uninsured males.