Posts Tagged ‘Citizen Health Action Teams’
Update on the Backyard Initiative Rebirthing Community: A new project gets approved by the Commission on Health
By Janice Barbee, Cultural Wellness Center The Commission on Health approved the project of another Citizen Health Action Team (CHAT) of the Backyard Initiative. On February 3, 2011 the Rebirthing Community CHAT received the go-ahead to implement their project which intends to create “Communities of Light.” The Backyard Initiative was started two years ago as a community partnership between Allina Hospitals and Clinics and the residents of Phillips, Powderhorn Park, Central, and Corcoran with the goal of improving the health of the community. The core work of the Backyard Initiative is done within teams of community residents (CHATs) which develop and implement their members”' ideas. Each CHAT appoints two members to sit on the Commission. Rebirthing Community CHAT ”“ Creating Communities of Light The goal of the Rebirthing Community CHAT is to build and strengthen the relationships, the knowledge, and the capacity for community residents to create their own conditions for health through intergenerational dialogue and working together on a solar energy project. They plan to light up the yards and residences in the Backyard with solar-powered lanterns. (more…)
Are you curious what”'s happening in your “Backyard?” Backyard May Activities & Year”'s Results
by Janice Barbee, Cultural Wellness Center Have you seen the BYI Health Assessment Report? Community residents learned about the results of the Backyard Initiative community health assessment in several gatherings in May. The completed report includes the findings and recommendations from 21 Listening Circles and the walk-around survey of 676 community residents, with over 1,000 residents participating. The Citizen Health Action Teams (CHATs) that are now meeting to plan actions for health improvement are making sure that their ideas address the state of health and health concerns reported by residents in this assessment. A full copy of the report is available at http://www.allina.com/backyard. Anyone wanting a hard copy of the complete report can call Ifrah Biyou at 612-262-0667. A special four-page insert presenting the highlights of the report to the community was published in last month”'s Alley newspaper (May edition). If anyone did not receive this edition and would like a copy of the insert, please call or drop by the Cultural Wellness Center. On May 6, community residents, Allina employees and youth volunteers from the Augsburg Fairview Academy gathered at the Midtown Global Market to share food and pick up copies of the Alley to distribute the insert door-to-door within the Backyard. Over 60 people participated. When they returned to the market from distributing the insert, people were invited to write comments about their experience. Backyard Celebration Event On Thursday, April 29, Allina and the Cultural Wellness Center hosted a community meeting at the Allina Commons to celebrate the progress the partnership has made over the last year. Almost 100 people came from the neighborhood and community organizations. Community residents presented Allina President and CEO Ken Paulus, Interim President of Allina”'s Center for Healthcare Innovation Bobbi Cordano, Director of Community Benefit Ellie Zuehlke, and President of Phillips [...]
First Year Anniversary Celebration January 30
by Janice Barbee All residents of the four Phillips neighborhoods, Corcoran, Central, and Powderhorn Park are invited to a celebration of the first anniversary of the Backyard Initiative at the Cultural Wellness Center on Saturday, January 30, 2010. You will hear about the accomplishments of the past year, particularly about the assessment of the health of the people within these communities, as well as plans for 2010. At the December dinner and dialogue meeting, we celebrated the commitment of residents throughout the past year. Participants gave feedback on whether they thought the meetings have been open, empowering, motivating, informational, and useful, and whether they felt that trust was building. The consensus was that the meetings were all of the above, and that trust was building. Several people reported that they had been to 20 - 30 meetings during 2009, including the large dinner and dialogue gatherings and/or the meetings of the Citizen Health Action Teams (CHATs), the Assessment Team, and the Listening Circles Analysis Team. Focus for December: Healthy Food Molly Herrmann of Tastebud, a catering business at the Midtown Global Market, spoke to the group about the value of locally-produced food. Local foods are usually fresher, have more nutritional value, and are often less expensive because they have less distance to travel to get to your table. Many of the businesses in the Midtown Global Market sell locally-produced food. She said many small, local farms sell organic produce (no pesticides), but cannot label their foods as organic because of the lengthy and costly process for becoming certified. A participant said that, because buying organic can be expensive, she has found out which fruits and vegetables have the most pesticides: bananas, potatoes, strawberries, for instance. These are the ones she buys organic. Herrmann is a member of Kitchen in the Market, a cooperative kitchen in the Midtown Global Market. About ten individual [...]
