The Center
for Community Health and Partnerships was formed as the bridge to
link Washington University
“font-family: Verdana;”>and its academic, medical and research resources to community organizations with the overall goal to improve the health of residents in “font-family: Verdana;”>where health inequalities exist.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“We feel we have some university resources and community partners and yet we live in a region that has some huge disparities and some appalling health outcomes,” said Dr. Edward F. Lawlor, director of the Institute for Public Health and dean of the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Lawlor said it’s time to mobilize those resources, people, knowledge and student training in partnership with communities to affect those health outcomes.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“The first goal of the community health center is to make sure that we create good dialogue and we have the voice of the community in our planning,” Lawlor added.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>For example, violence prevention is a priority voiced through Our Community Our Health, convened by the Center’s Director, Dr. Consuelo H. Wilkins. Wilkins is also associate professor of medicine and psychiatry at Washington University and the health accuracy editor for The St. Louis American.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“And that’s not, within the university context, probably the first thing that comes to people’s minds as a public health issue,” Lawlor said. “When it absolutely is.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“The main goal is that we are going to build bridges,” Wilkins said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“With the thousands of numbers here at Washington University, there was not one that people could give out to contact if a community organization is looking to partner with someone, if they want to make sure they have the right information, if they are looking for resources, if they want a speaker even to come out and talk to them about a health issue,” she said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“So that’s the first thing that the Center is going to be. People can call us, and we’ll make sure they get where they need to go and they get the information they need.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The Center will be a bridge within and outside of the academic setting.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“Sometimes things seem closer than they really are,” Wilkins said, “because we think that we are right next to each other, but so far apart in the way we communicate with each other inside the academic setting and in the community – the way we have our priorities about research, about health care, about what it means to be healthy.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“And we’ve really got to get to a common place where we can communicate better so that we can eliminate some of the disparities.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Lawlor said through partnerships, the university is already engaging in important work in diabetes prevention, obesity, cancer and tobacco cessation to meet health challenges in St. Louis.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Rather than determining on their own which health issues to attack, that’s the kind of dialogue the Center wants to have with the community and community partners.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“But, once having that, we want to organize ourselves, our training programs, research, and, more importantly, the dissemination of information to communities, so we can bring some of the best practices to bear to some of our health challenges here,” Lawlor said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“So it’s really a new focus for us – making sure that public health is part of our portfolio for research, for health initiatives, for student work, for all of our scholarly activities,” Wilkins said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“Everybody is really embracing it and they think it’s important, and as you can see, all of the activities and research that’s already going on – there is a need for it.” “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>For more information, contact the Center for Community Health and Partnerships via email at healthycommunity@ewustl.edu, by calling 314-747-9234 or visit the website publichealth.
