Conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play — things like housing instability, access to healthy foods, and community violence — significantly affect their health risks and outcomes. Hospitals recognize and work hard to address these conditions, often referred to as the social and environmental determinants of health, with a focus on eliminating disparities in care delivery and health outcomes. The community care programs offered by hospitals and their partners, however, may only scratch the surface of deeper social factors that affect individual health outcomes. More focused state and federal policies will be required if progress is to be made in mitigating people’s health care risks before they become critical care needs.
About Community Care
Terry’s House offers comfort, support at home-away-from-home
When a critically ill patient is in the hospital, family is usually close behind. But that often means long hours on the road and expensive hotel stays. See what Terry’s House meant to Graciela Mesa and Jose Cordero after their daughter was born prematurely.
Innovating patient menus with farm-to-fork taste
Hospital food is known for being bland and uninspired, but one chef is throwing out that tired recipe. Meet the chef who’s transforming hospital food. He’s buying local to bring patients, staff, and hospital visitors farm-to-fork tastes.
UC Davis Health goes beyond hospital walls to vaccinate community
Without the help of university students, thousands of Sacramento’s most vulnerable residents might not have gotten COVID-19 vaccines. The University of California, Davis School of Medicine provided the workforce while UC Davis Health provided support.
John Muir Health takes test inventories to a new level
Hospitals went above and beyond to care for those in need during the global COVID-19 pandemic — but not every role gets the credit it deserves. At John Muir Health, a comprehensive approach to test processing and materials in the laboratory helped to speed diagnosis and save lives.
Tenet Health Brings TeleER to the Central Coast
Hospitals went above and beyond to care for those in need during the global COVID-19 pandemic — even reaching outside their four walls. At Tenet Health Central Coast, an innovative new TeleER program meant patients were tended to without setting foot in the hospital.