Community Voices: Healthcare for the Underserved

Articles:

Overview

Dr. Henrie Treadwell Delivers Poignant Speech to the Male Responsibility Network in Denver Colorado
As an invited guest to the Title X annual Male Reproductive Health Conference & Training recently held at the Adams Mark Hotel, Denver CO (May 3-5, 2006), Dr. Treadwell delivered a talk entitled 'Male Reproductive health: How far have we come? Where are we really?'. To view a transcript of her message, which details the journey of the Men's Health movement and profiles avenues to build sustainability, please click for more information.

Since its inception, the Community Voices: Healthcare for the Underserved initiative has been developing programs that actually improve the accessibility of people to quality health care. Through practical examples of service models that reach people, public and private policy decision-makers are better informed of real, pragmatic solutions. Each of the Community Voices sites is based in areas that are home to some of the nation’s most underserved populations, such as immigrants and the homeless. Each faces challenges unique to each area. But many of the issues are the same:

Access To Health Care
Social Levees Crumbling Around Our Nation’s Poor

For a brief moment, the nation was focused on the devastation that was wrought by Katrina. Images of people stranded without homes, transportation, medical care or any other support have forever scarred our memories. Strikingly, many of these images captured the challenges faced by the poor, the homeless, and the disadvantaged. And yes, many of these portraits were of African Americans. For the moment, the nation joined together in sympathy and compassion for our fellow Americans who were dealt an unfair blow by nature....Soon, the images will fade for most of the nation. But we cannot allow the inequities to remain the glaring reality for America’s vulnerable.

Health Insurance
Make sure that clients aren't hurt by Medicaid reforms

Leda M. Perez, Community Voices' Miami director, writes in the December 27, 2005 Miami Herald that the Florida Legislature should view the recent Medicaid overhaul taking effect as pilot programs in Broward and Duval counties as a real opportunity to observe and evaluate the radical changes to the system.

Mental Health
Mental Health: The Quiet Storm

Community Voices Project Director, Henrie Treadwell, Ph.D., writes that "The landscape and communities nationwide are being eroded by squalls that are leading away from homes and neighborhoods and raging in jails, prisons, and juvenile justice facilities. The official cost of untreated mental health conditions in the US workforce is estimated to be $3 billion per year. But this figure fails to account for those unable to participate in the labor force because of poor mental health...What would be the cost to taxpayers of funding treatment programs rather than prison systems? Are the portfolios of the privileged swelling based on the plight of the mentally ill, both poor and not so poor?

Prison Health
Judge Mathis Sentences Prison Health to Reform

Judge Greg Mathis, host of the nationally syndicated Judge Mathis Show, joined Morehouse School of Medicine Interim President and former US Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher and health and correctional experts in calling for reforms to America's broken prison health system at the release of the American Journal of Public Health's special prison health issue. Citing his own experiences on both sides of the criminal justice system, Judge Mathis drew attention to the many aspects of the system which contribute to a cycle of poor health and recidivism. UPDATED! Proceedings from the forum highlighting men's health research in the October issue of the American Journal of Public Health now available.

Men's Health
Personal Experience Spurs Men's Health Push

Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) relates his personal health care experiences and discusses how it inspired him to take a leadership role in advocating for men's health. Senator Crapo introduced the Men's Health Act of 2005, which would establish an Office of Men's Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, similar to the Office of Women's Health already in existence there.

Other Issues

Related Policy Briefs

Dr. Henrie Treadwell Delivers Poignant Speech to the Male Responsibility Network in Denver Colorado

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Policy Briefs:

State-funded Rehabilitation Services for the Incarcerated: Polls say yes
An overwhelming majority in both Washington, DC and statewide in Georgia would support a policy to make state-funded rehabilitation services available to incarcerated people both while they are in prison and after they have been released, a pair of polls conducted by Zogby International on behalf of Community Voices at Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) shows:

Community Voices/Zogby Poll shows Strong Support for Prisoner Rehabilitation Services

Attitudes Toward and Support for Services to Successfully Reintegrate People with Felony Convictions Back into Society: A Survey of Residents of Washington, DC and Georgia

Additional Policy Brief Overviews:

Healthcare and Incarceration: Medicaid Termination and Suspension

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Oral Health: Who Cares? Who Should Care?
In the United States, health systems, practices, policies and payment mechanisms continue to differentiate between physical health and oral health. But within the human body, no such distinction exists. An infected tooth is no different than strep throat or any other threat to physical well-being. Yet far too many people –across the nation and in our own State of Georgia – the crying need for oral health care, both to prevent illness and treat disease, goes unanswered (Download Overview).
Publication Date:3/17/2007

Public Housing Policies that Exclude Ex-Offenders: A House Divided
Ex-offenders can be excluded from public housing either by operation of law or by administrative decision-making-giving advocates and policymakers more than one avenue for addressing current barriers to housing. The best option, of course, is to amend federal law and make the statutory framework for administrative decisions more fair, humane, and rational. But even within the current statutory framework, there is room to modify harsh and arbitrary administrative policies and practices (Download Overview).
Publication Date:3/16/2007

Felony Convictions and Access to Healthcare: Equal Opportunity for Life and Liberty?
The deliberate disenfranchisement of felons and ex-felons is America’s dirty little secret. Disenfranchisement is an express, direct attack on the democratic process, one that is traditionally motivated by racism and which currently disproportionately impacts African Americans. The number of citizens deliberately disenfranchised is huge and rapidly expanding – 4.7 million Americans were ineligible to vote in 2000; by 2004 that number had risen to 5.3 million and is still rising (Download Overview).
Publication Date:3/15/2007

Examining the Needs of The Incarcerated
Community Voices convened a meeting of thirty-three key community stakeholders in Georgia. The goal was to identify challenges to reentry pathways and to foster reentry projects in the state of Georgia (Download Overview).
Publication Date:2/28/2007

State-funded Rehabilitation Services for the Incarcerated: Polls say yes
An overwhelming majority in both Washington, DC and statewide in Georgia would support a policy to make state-funded rehabilitation services available to incarcerated people both while they are in prison and after they have been released, a pair of polls conducted by Zogby International on behalf of Community Voices at Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) shows.
Publication Date:2/15/2007

Prison Health and the Health of the Public: Ties that Bind
Untreated or overlooked illnesses in a prison population can expose whole communities to the risk of infection from a contagious disease. With nearly 2.2 million men and women incarcerated in prisons and jails in the United States, many suffer with HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, tuberculosis, diabetes, as well as chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and asthma. Even more suffer from undiagnosed or untreated mental illness. Many correlate the catastrophic rise of HIV cases among African American women with the return of HIV positive men after their release from prison. Upon reentry, ex-offenders often return to their low-income communities, cities, towns and neighborhoods with the fewest resources. The effect is to exacerbate health disparities already present while the unmet health needs of people in jails and prisons can threaten the well-being of their families, communities and society as a whole.
In order to address the health care concerns of the general population, it is first necessary to realize that there is a direct tie between prison health and the health of the public (Download Overview).
Publication Date:1/1/2007

Where are the men?
The Impact of Incarceration and Reentry on African American Men and Their Children and Families (Download Overview).
Publication Date:8/1/2006

Healthy Children in Healthy Families: The Role and Power of School-based Health
School-based Health Centers (SBHCs) are an innovative tool used by Community Voices to fill health care service gaps and extend access to quality health care. These centers not only preserve the good health of the children that they serve, but also reduce absenteeism and emergency room use.
Publication Date:5/1/2005
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A Man's Dilemma: Healthcare of Men Across America
A DISPARITIES REPORT. Men of color and poor men continue to experience disparities in health status and in access to quality health care. This document examines the broader issue of access to care, including insurance coverage.
Publication Date:11/1/2004

Community Health Workers and Community Voices: Promoting Good Health
Reaching out into homes and into the community to promote healing and wellness as an integral part of practice is as old as health care. But this practice is threatened. This policy brief tells the comprehensive story of the community health worker and hopes to move many to action: to the use of community health workers, and to the work of educating policymakers about the integral role that these frontline workers can and must play in making our health care system whole and fiscally stable.
Publication Date:9/1/2004
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Most Requested Policy Briefs

Healthy Children in Healthy Families: The Role and Power of School-based Health
School-based Health Centers (SBHCs) are an innovative tool used by Community Voices to fill health care service gaps and extend access to quality health care. These centers not only preserve the good health of the children that they serve, but also reduce absenteeism and emergency room use.
Publication Date:5/1/2005

Community-Based Health Coverage Programs: Models and Lessons
What follows are profiles of coverage programs that are connected to the Community Voices initiative. The programs described in this report are not the only community-based coverage programs in the U.S. — in fact, numerous programs have emerged around the country — but this collection represents a range of up-to-date models. They vary in target population, benefit package, vehicle for coverage, size, cost, financing mechanism, lead agency, and stage of development. This policy brief is available by download only.
Publication Date:4/15/2004

Community Voices: Lessons for National Health Policy
Several strong forces are combining to push responsibility for improving access to health care for vulnerable populations onto local communities. Some communities, including the Community Voices sites, have been developing innovative ways to meet the growing challenges they face. These local efforts also serve as "learning laboratories;" the more successful strategies provide models for larger-scale state or federal reforms. This brief highlights some of these promising approaches.
Publication Date:4/15/2004