NH Health Equity Conference October 24

Dartmouth-Hitchcock (D-H), the New Hampshire Public Health Association (NHPHA), and the VT Public Health Association (VtPHA) are co-sponsoring a conference aimed at health care, public health, and social services professionals on Wednesday, October 24. “Team Up, Take Action: A Conference on Partnering for Health Equity” is slated to begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Hanover Inn, Hanover, NH. The focus of the day is how the collaboration of health care systems and community/public health systems can be designed to better achieve the goal of health equity. This is the third year the group has hosted this joint event.

Kevin Barnett, DrPH, a senior investigator at the Public Health Institute in Oakland, CA, is delivering the keynote address at the conference. His presentation is titled “Transformation, Transparency, and the Imperative for Alignment.”

There is considerable evidence that social factors including education, employment status, income level, gender, and ethnicity have a strong influence on how healthy a person is. The lower an individual’s socio-economic position, the higher their risk of poor health.

“We selected the topic of Partnering for Health because it hits at the heart of two critical elements to make changes in communities: partnerships and the aim of advancing health equity,” said Rebecca Sky, President of NHPHA. “Individuals who attend the conference will have the opportunity to learn together about what it takes to create effective partnerships that impact in sustainable, scalable ways the social and environmental factors that affect health.”

Health equity exists when all people have a fair and just opportunity to be healthy by having equal access to health care and access to those systems that reflect social determinants of health such as housing, livable wages, education, etc.

“We are especially concerned about disparities between rural and urban locations, and those based on race and ethnicity, income, sexual orientation, and disability,” said Sally Kerschner, President of VtPHA. “Conference attendees will have the opportunity to examine ways to expand their work and partnerships towards achieving real health equity in New England.”

“In order to reverse a disturbing trend towards growing health inequity, leaders in New England and across the country recognize that health systems, public health sectors, and community organizations must work together,” commented Gregory Crowley, Director of Community Partnerships at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. “We are fortunate to have Kevin Barnett as our keynote speaker for the event. He has worked extensively with health systems to transform community benefit practices and create alignment with public health and social services sectors.”

To learn more about the conference or to register visit https://conta.cc/2LfG6N5