HJNO Jan/Feb 2022

42 JAN / FEB 2022 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS LDH CORNER equity is really at the heart of public health. It has also become more of a focus on ac- creditation as well, and we are an accredit- ed state health department. As such, it’s vital that we address health equity in our plans, our processes and our programs. Department leadership recognizes that we must address the foundations of com- munity health to make substantive changes in health outcomes and to make Louisiana a more equitable place. We know that many people who are disproportionately impact- ed by our poor health outcomes tend to be communities that have inequitable ser- vices, programs and living conditions. There are several factors that negatively impact health outcomes that relate to eq- uitable access. For example, if nutrition is poor in a community, it’s going to be hard to drive down or to address all the issues that arise because of poor nutrition, whether it be widespread diabetes or heart disease. In short, pursuing health equity is just the right thing to do for the people of Louisiana to live healthier, fuller lives, and the Gover- nor and Health Secretary Phillips recognize that and have made doing so a top priority. BMAC How can the community get involved in the State Health Improvement Plan? HINES We would love for people to get in- volved in developing this plan. We need to have the right people at the table, the right voices being lifted, and we want to address the real needs. It’s the community’s plan. We would like to engage groups across the state to be our partners in implement- ing the plan. So, there will be the opportuni- ty for partner organizations to incorporate their work into this shared plan. We see this as an opportunity to increase collaboration, communication and alignment of efforts to address important health priorities across the state. To find out how you can get involved, go to our website at www.LouisianaSHA.com , and click on “Get Involved!” Getting the community involved is a top priority, and we invite everyone to join the conversation. BMAC What kind of responses from commu- nitymembers will be useful to you that ismore illustrative than what the data can tell us? HINES We really want to hear from the community about what they need and what they are seeing currently. We would like the community to help us figure out who we need to talk to, who we need to work with and what strategies will work for their community. For example, the strategies for Baton Rouge may not work for North Louisiana. Additionally, the strategies for one ethnic group might not work for another ethnic group. So, we will tell folks, “This is the issue that we saw in the data; how can we help your community fix this, and what strate- gies should we use?” We know that fixing health inequities is not a one-size-fits-all approach, so we need to figure out what strategies will work for each region. BMAC What should people in the healthcare industry know about and pay attention to with this State Health Improvement Plan? HINES A lot of the folks in the healthcare in- dustry doCommunityHealthNeedsAssess- ments. The State Health Assessment gives people in the healthcare industry an idea of the health of the communities that they serve and could potentially be leveraged as part of their community health needs assessments. The State Health Assessment and the State Health Improvement Plan also help people in the healthcare industry plan for trends that may impact their oper- ations. BMAC Is there anything else you would like the public to know about the State HealthAs- sessment and the State Health Improvement Plan? CAIN We have a great opportunity to address the health inequities in this state and to increase coordination and visibility for the great work that is going on across the state by so many public, private and voluntary organizations. Partnerships are everything in public health, so we hope that the State Health Improvement Plan will help connect us and increase our collective impact in improving the health of Louisianans. n Katherine L. Cain, MPH, is the Director of the Bureau of Planning and Performance at the Louisiana Depart- ment of Health’s Office of Public Health.She works to advance state health improvement planning, health equity, organizational performance management, quality improvement, public health accreditation, and workforce development. She is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.Prior to coming to OPH in 2018, she served at the New Orleans Health Department for six years. Robert Hines,MSPH,serves as the Deputy Director for Planning and Performance at the Louisiana Depart- ment of Health,where his work is focused on process improvement,accreditation and strategic and commu- nity health improvement planning. Prior to his arrival at OPH in 2020,Robert served at the Houston Health Department for 12 years as a lead Disease Interven- tion Specialist in the HIV/STD prevention program, lead Perinatal HIV epidemiologist, and, ultimately, as Accreditation Coordinator/Performance Improvement Manager. “We know that fixing health inequities is not a one-size-fits-all approach, so we need to figure out what strategies will work for each region.”