Community Voices has health justice as our fundamental mission. Far too many people in this nation are “invisible” when solutions for devising humane and accessible health care plans are proposed by public policymakers. These legions are left to suffer needless pain and premature deaths and to somehow make a way out of no way. We work across the nation to affirm particularly serious deficiencies in our systems of care. We realize that in order to improve the overall health of our communities, we must identify and eliminate health disparities, educating our communities on prevalent health issues and prevention methods, emphasizing the importance of a primary care home and insuring that every has the opportunity for quality health and quality health care coverage.
Over the past two decades, obesity rates, specifically in children ages 6-11, have more than doubled. In adolescents, the rates have tripled (Ogden CL, Carroll MD, 2006). Community Voices is actively addressing strategies for reducing childhood obesity which included the following:
At the end of 2005, there were over 2.2 million people incarcerated in jails and prisons in the United States (Harrison &Beck, 2006). This mass incarceration has had a detrimental impact on people of color, particularly African-American men. Those who reenter their communities upon release confront numerous obstacles to include unemployment, disenfranchisement, limited housing, poor health and lack of access to health services. Community Voices is actively involved in identifying the challenges to the establishment of successful reentry pathways and to foster development of model reentry projects in the state of Georgia. Our objectives are to identify the public policy constraints faced by the reentry community in Georgia; increase public awareness to reentry issues in Georgia; identify best practice models that demonstrate effective partnerships between public health and social services; and, discuss strategies for development and implementation of a community based reentry project model for Georgia.
Learn more about our new reentry program- MILA Fellows Reentry Family Support Program, click here!
Click here to go to the Georgia Reentry website.
Community Voices: Healthcare for the Underserved has worked since 1998 across the United States to engage into health services, the poor, uninsured and the underrepresented. We have learned that nationally mandated and enforced programs that ensure a payor for culturally competent, quality health care for all is imperative. We believe that a Medicaid expansion would significantly increase access to health insurance for some of the lowest income adults. Because Medicaid expansions targeting large numbers may be costly, Community Voices has examined options for the feasibility and potential costs of targeted or localized pilot projects.
In the United States, health systems, practices, policies and payment mechanisms continue to differentiate between physical health and oral health. Within the human body however, no such distinction exists. An infected tooth is no different than strep throat or any other threat to the physical well-being. Yet for too many people across the nation, the crying need for oral health care, both to prevent illness and treat disease, goes unanswered. Understanding the extent of unmet needs among a particular constituency is essential to finding a way to address it. Only with adequate information, and a breakdown on how and where existing resources are currently deployed, can institutional decision makers, public policymakers, and advocates begin to redress gaps in services.
According to CNN.com, 86.7 million Americans were uninsured between 2007 and 2008. Lack of health coverage among so many Americans is one of the most important health policy issues facing our nation. A large uninsured population reduces efficiency within the healthcare system and leads to cost-shifting on to those with health insurance in order for healthcare providers to serve those without coverage. The lack of access to primary and preventive care can also lead to lower health outcomes, further driving up healthcare costs. People without health insurance are less likely to have a usual doctor and often go without screenings or preventative care.The concentration of the uninsured among lower-income adults further exacerbates these problems and has added significance as the nation examines potential policies to increase coverage.