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This newsletter brings you timely updates on activities of California rural health collaboratives.
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CCRHI eNews
April 29, 2016

In This Issue:

  • CCRHI Updates
  • Siskiyou Healthcare collaborative presents mental health stats to County Board of Supervisors
  • May is Mental Health Month Spotlight: Each Mind Matters
  • Rural Health Leaders Visit with Assembly Members Dahle and Wood
  • New Guide Available for Advocates on Getting and Keeping Coverage for Low-Income Californians
  • Adventist Health to Acquire Three Colusa County Rural Health Clinics
  • Community Engagement Matters (Now More Than Ever)
  • Useful Education, Health and Outcomes Data on California Youth
Rural Health Community Updates
Greetings CCRHI Friends,

Hope your week is going great. I thought I would provide a few updates of things happening in CCRHI country!

1.      I am pleased to announce that the Lassen Healthcare Collaborative is a new CCRHI member. We are now a total of eight collaboratives representing 18 counties. With 230 members who now subscribe to our eNews, the CCRHI Community is growing!

2.      CCRHI has a website where we are posting resources, past eNews and other information.  You may access the CCRHI website at www.ccrhi.org. Through our virtual community, we are connecting collaboratives that are learning more about health information exchange, rural behavioral health assessments, and local provider supply and demand studies.  Folks have expressed to me that they are grateful to know these efforts are happening and are considering something similar.

3.      CCRHI is honored to have received an invitation to attend the National Rural Health Association leadership meeting, which is being held in July.  We think the meeting will be an excellent opportunity to network and promote some of the great collaborative work you are all doing to advance rural health for California.

Finally, our goal with this eNews is to provide information that is relevant and of interest; if you have any comments or suggestions, please send your feedback to info@ccrhi.org.  We also want to encourage you to share information with us about your collaborative, projects you are doing, or resources you are looking for.  Let's keep communicating about the great work to improve health in rural California!

Take Care,

Collaborative News
County Mental Health Needs Assessment Presented to Siskiyou Board of Supervisors

The Siskiyou Healthcare Collaborative's Behavioral Health Task Group presented important information to the County Board of Supervisors regarding mental health and substance abuse services needed by and available to Siskiyou residents.

The presentation was an overview of the “Siskiyou County Behavioral Health Needs and Community Capacity Assessment” which was recently completed by the task group and Siskiyou Healthcare Collaborative. 

Figures for 2014 from the California Department of Public Health show Siskiyou County’s rates of both drug-induced deaths and suicide as more than double that of the state average. The task group identified the steps in their implementation plan, which included:
  • Improving public access to behavioral health services information,
  • Destigmatizing treatment-seeking behavior and
  • Creating a standardized care coordination protocol and information release between primary care, behavioral health and social services. 
View the article from The Siskiyou Daily News (Jester, 4/13/16) here.
CCRHI Members

Alliance for Rural Community Health

Health Alliance of Northern California

Highway 299 Collaborative

Lassen Healthcare Collaborative

North Coast Clinics Network

Sac Valley Med Share

Shasta Health Assessment and Redesign Collaborative

Siskiyou Healthcare Collaborative
 

Upcoming Events

Shasta County
June 3, 2016: Community-Wide Care Coordination Summit
This convening, designed for all those working in the care/case management field, is sponsored by Shasta Health Assessment and Redesign Collaborative, Health Alliance of Northern California, and Northern California Area Health Education Center. It will be held on Friday, June 3, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm at the Hilton Garden Inn in Redding. 

The purpose of this gathering is to increase awareness of case management programs available throughout Shasta County and increase connections among peers doing this work.  To further enhance system wide communication, program/ organizational directors are also encouraged to attend.
 
Oakland, CA
July 13-15, 2016: Rural Quality and Clinical Conference 
National Rural Health Association’s Rural Quality and Clinical Conference is an interactive forum for quality improvement and performance improvement coordinators, rural clinicians, and nurses practicing on the front lines of rural health care. Registration is $269 members / $369 non-members. (National Rural Health Association)
 
About Our Community
 
CCRHI fosters strategic, shared learning, networking and collaboration among local health efforts for rural and frontier California. We focus on:

0 Developing health care leadership for change
 
0 Increasing access to care in the community
 
0 Strengthening local health care systems by using collaborative strategies that catalyze change and break down silos

For more information, view our factsheet here.

In the News



May is Mental Health Month Spotlight: Each Mind Matters

Each Mind Matters is a statewide movement that brings people together from all walks of life with a shared goal of eliminating stigma around mental health. By creating supportive communities where it is safe to talk openly and honestly about mental health, we are replacing fear with empowerment and ensuring that everyone with a mental health challenge has the support and acceptance they need to live a healthy, happy and meaningful life. Some key messages of the Each Mind Matters campaign includes:
  • We all have mental health, and as with our physical health, sometimes we are doing well and other times we could use some help. In fact, 50 percent of us will experience a mental health challenge in our lifetime. 
  • Mental health challenges are very common. Yet research shows that many people do not reach out, particularly young people who wait an average of 6 to 8 years from onset of symptoms before they get help.
  • People recover from mental illness all the time. With support and treatment, between 70 and 90 percent of individuals report reduced symptoms and improved quality of life.
Find more key messages and mental health information materials on the Each Mind Matters website. And check out the vimeo on how to engage your community in dialogue about mental health through social media.

 
 

 
Rural Health Leaders Visit with Assembly Members Dahle and Wood
 
On April 20th, 2016 rural health leaders from across northern California met with Assemblymembers Brian Dahle, 1st Assembly District, and Jim Wood, 2nd Assembly District, to talk about health workforce opportunities and challenges across the state, and their districts. The visits occurred in conjunction with the California Primary Care Association’s Annual Day at the Capitol. To find out more about Assemblyman Brain Dahle and his district, click here, and to find out more about Assemblyman Jim Wood and his district, click here.

 





New Guide Available for Advocates on Getting and Keeping Coverage for Low-Income Californians
 
The Western Center on Law and Poverty has produced a new resource, Getting and Keeping Health Care Coverage for Low-Income Californians: A Guide for Advocates. The publication provides guidance for advocates, enrollment counselors, health care workers, community organizers and others on program details, relevant statutes and regulations on Insurance Affordability Programs, as well as on some programs available to the remaining uninsured.
 
 
 
Adventist Health to Acquire Three Colusa County Rural Health Clinics
 
Adventist Health has agreed to acquire three rural health clinics from Colusa Regional Medical Center. Colusa Regional Medical Center closed on April 22nd. This move maintains some health care options for area residents. The rural health clinics are located in Arbuckle, Williams and Colusa. Read the article in The Sacramento Business Journal (4/21) here.
 
 

 
Community Engagement Matters (Now More Than Ever)

Data-driven and evidence-based practices offer leaders opportunities to increase impact, efficiency and success, according to a recent Stanford Social Innovation Review story, “Community Engagement Matters (Now More Than Ever).” Without community support for such practices, though, initiatives may not succeed.

“Engaging a community is not an activity that leaders can check off on a list,” wrote the authors, Melody Barnes and Paul Schmitz. “It’s a continuous process that aims to generate the support necessary for long-term change. The goal is to encourage intended beneficiaries not just to participate in a social change initiative but also to champion it.”

The authors cite the following three principals from Moneyball for Government that leaders should follow as they pursue social change:
 
“Build evidence about the practices, policies, and programs that will achieve the most effective and efficient results so that policymakers can make better decisions.”

“Invest limited taxpayer dollars in practices, policies, and programs that use data, evidence, and evaluation to demonstrate they work.”

“Direct funds away from practices, policies, and programs that consistently fail to achieve measurable outcomes.”

For change to happen, though, trust and relationships must support it.

The following six factors the authors say are essential to building community support for data-driven solutions.
  • Organizing for ownership
  • Allowing for complexity
  • Working with local institutions
  • Applying an equity lens
  • Building momentum
  • Managing constituencies through change

Rural Health Information


Useful Education, Health and Outcomes Data on California Youth
 
Kidsdata.org, a program of the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health, promotes the health and well being of children in California by providing an easy to use resource that offers high-quality, wide-ranging, local data to those who work on behalf of children.

Kidsdata.org allows users to easily find, customize, and use data on more than 500 measures of child health and well being. Data are available for every county, city, school district, and legislative district in California. Main topics covered include:
  • Child and Youth Safety
  • Children with Special Health Care Needs
  • Demographics
  • Education and Child Care
  • Emotional and Behavioral Health
  • Environmental Health
  • Family Economics
  • Physical Health

Find tips about using kidsdata.org, read examples of how other people are using it, or share your own example in the Data in Action section.
Copyright © 2016 California Community for Rural Health Improvement, All rights reserved.


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