Upstream prevention tomorrow means putting care at the center today
A recap of 2019’s Putting Care at the Center Conference
By Ramon Llamas, MPH CHES
A city known for its rock ’n’ roll, blues, and barbecue, Memphis displayed its southern hospitality as the host of this year’s Putting Care at the Center Conference. With a number of keynote and plenary sessions, fireside chats, and 27 workshops, there was no shortage of knowledge and insights from both speakers and attendees alike. Here’s a recap of my main takeaways.
Building a Local Ecosystem
“This is the bus going to the zoo, right?,” an attendee from Seattle asked facetiously. When everyone unanimously responded yes, it made me wonder if I was in the right place — I signed up for a tour of Church Health housed in the larger development a few miles east of downtown called the Crosstown Concourse. Not long after, we were greeted with a warm and charming introduction from our local tour guide/host committee member and were on our way.
Along the route, we passed by Sun Studios, where “the King” Elvis Presley recorded his first album, a birthday present to his mother, back in the summer of 1953. We also drove past the growing medical district, anchored by the University of Tennessee (UT) Health Science Campus, Regional One Health, and Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare.
Pulling into the parking lot, the Crosstown Concourse can’t be missed. Officially opened in 2017, the ten-story development took seven years to renovate and repurpose into the concept they refer to as a “vertical neighborhood”. What was once an abandoned Sears distribution center and brick and mortar flagship store, now stands a diverse and bustling community hub. With a curated mix of residences, fast casual restaurants, coffee shop, bar, community space, performing arts space, music venue, small local market, comprehensive health center, and high school all under one roof, I thought to myself, “does anyone ever leave?”
While listening to the vision and story from lead developer, non-profit Crosstown Arts, my mind immediately began to imagine the power and potential impact of community development on addressing the social determinants of health in the local context. The $200M renovation leveraged a combination of “patient” investment capital, a variety of available tax incentives, and grant funds to make the vision a reality. Crosstown Arts was also particularly intentional when it came to procurement; they ensured both minority- and women-owned subcontractors were allocated a fair proportion of awarded bids. Lastly, early commitment from a highly influential anchor institution like Church Health was crucial to persuade other future tenants — FedEx, Teach for America, UT, and Crosstown High School, among over 30 others — to lease space in the complex.
From an impact perspective, this development has created hundreds of temporary and permanent jobs, scores of new affordable housing units, access to a comprehensive health center, and an open, thriving cultural and community space that residents can benefit from. Could this model — focused on building ecosystems, rather than isolated investments — serve as the future of real estate development? Could this model minimize the negative consequences of real estate development across the country?
From Silos to Cross-Sector Collaboration
In her introductory remarks, Camden Coalition CEO Kathleen Noonan juxtaposed two photos of children playing in the school yard. The first captured two boys, standing side-by-side, individually painting on a shared surface. Beside it, a photo captured a group of boys and girls collectively playing a game of jump rope. The question she posed became one of the overarching themes of the conference: how can we get stakeholders from a variety of sectors to engage in more cooperative play?
Featured in both plenary sessions as well as many of the workshops, organizations from across the country shared their best practices to form collaborative, cross-sector initiatives to address a wide range of social needs.
To improve housing as well as health outcomes, for example, Memphis-based Neighborhood Preservation, Inc. described their work to train county employees responsible for housing code enforcement to also focus on issues of mold, lead or bed bug infestations.
Innovative partnerships in criminal justice and health highlighted a diversion program between behavioral health clinic Helen Ross McNabb Center (HRMC) and local law enforcement in East Tennessee. Police officers were trained to identify potential mental health or substance abuse issues in individuals committing non-violent misdemeanors and deliver them to HRMC where perpetrators were given an option to check into the clinic for healthcare services instead of serving time in jail.
Overall, several common key elements for cross-sector success emerged:
- Set the vision first, then align financing to support it.
- A common purpose develops over time and is the result of building trust and rapport.
- Be aware and conscious of inclusion and equity. Ask yourself, “Who am I displacing from this conversation when I talk about issues from a healthcare lens?”
- View stakeholders’ differences as assets rather than barriers, because they can each contribute in a different way.
Outside the burgeoning field of complex care, how much collaboration across sectors is actually taking place? What can we do collectively to breakdown silos and facilitate engagement among key stakeholders outside of healthcare and public health?
Space for the Unheard
One distinct aspect of this conference was its inclusion of community voices as a core element to the overall program. A number of individuals with lived experiences were selected to share their stories as part of the National Consumer Scholar program.
Through panel discussions and short five-minute testimonials, each of the scholars shared courageously and openly, how certain life events shaped the course of their lives. And while their stories were uniquely their own, they shared a common purpose to share publicly for the benefit of others.
In what ways can we do better to provide a safe space for people with lived experiences to share openly about their unique situations and specific needs? How can we more intentionally incorporate lived experiences when designing programs, policies, products at our respective organizations?
Ramon Llamas, MPH CHES is Director of Impact at Patchwise Labs. He is also the founder of Switch/Health. Reach him on twitter @RandomRPL
