Health Equity
Health for All: Bridging Gaps, Building Futures
Health Equity
Building a Culture of Health
Health Equity is the assurance of the conditions for optimal health for all people. It means that every individual, regardless of their background, has a fair chance to achieve optimal health.
Several factors, including genetics, family health history, medical care, and personal health habits, determine our health. However, research has shown that most of our health is determined by social factors known as the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH). While achieving optimal health depends on each of these factors, concerted effort and attention must be devoted to identifying barriers that lead to health inequities across populations so that solutions are tailored according to specific population and community health needs.
The SEMHA Health Equity Division helps partners build their capacity to contribute to a culture of health in Michigan. The Health Equity Division helps partners ensure that the communities served are valued and included, their experiences are centered, relationships are built for collective impact, and patterns and barriers that contribute to poor health in Michigan are removed.
The SEMHA Health Equity Division envisions a culture in which the barriers that cause health inequities in Michigan have been permanently removed, all individuals and populations are equally valued, historical injustices are acknowledged and rectified, and resources are distributed according to need. SEMHA works to build a culture of health in southeast Michigan through collaboration and collective impact. SEMHA’s health equity work includes supporting existing health equity partnerships by providing shared services, knowledge, and expertise while also serving as a facilitator and backbone organization for multisector collective impact initiatives.
3 Focus Areas of
Health Equity
SEMHA prioritizes community voices and real-life experiences to monitor progress in health improvement. This approach will serve as a valuable guide for partners dedicated to serving Michigan.
SEMHA is a foundational organization that collaborates with and brings together entities from various sectors to introduce creative upstream solutions for enhancing health in Michigan.
SEMHA collaborates with partners to identify practices that perpetuate inequities and works together to develop new approaches and strategies to improve health in Michigan.
Programs and Initiatives
SEMHA serves as the backbone organization for this collective impact initiative, which uses Health Information Technology to strengthen linkages among clinical communities to meet both healthcare and social care needs. Specifically, SEMHA is building a Community Information Exchange (CIE) to streamline referrals for patient and client services among clinicians, human service agencies, public health, and community-based organizations. Using closed-loop referral technology, CIEs have proven to ensure strong communication across entities and timely meeting people’s needs. Most importantly, this CIE is being developed by 16 partner organizations and individuals enrolled in Medicaid to ensure the platform meets the needs of all who will use it.
The purpose of the SEMHA Community Health Worker (CHW) Co-Lab is to create a collaborative space for CHWs and multi-sector partners to co-design efforts that will cement the Community Health Worker profession as a viable and attractive career option and support the professional infrastructure for CHWs. CHWs are the guiding force behind everything for the Co-Lab, and their experiences and innovative ideas will be central to all Co-Lab activities. The Co-Lab currently includes three initiatives: the CHW Career Advancement Taskforce, the CHW-Clinician Taskforce, and the CHW Social Convenings.
SEMHA serves as a partner organization for D-CHAP, which works to build consensus around Detroit’s most urgent health priorities and the structural conditions that contribute to adverse health outcomes through a community-centered lens. D-CHAP advances locally informed stakeholder-driven approaches to addressing these challenges. D-CHAP is coordinated and facilitated by Wayne State University’s Community Engaged Collaboration for the Promotion of Access to Technology and Health (CEC-PATH), which creates pathways for community-academic research partnerships for health and investigates bridges and barriers to health and well-being related to the digital divide.
Social Determinants of Health
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age that can impact their health outcomes. These determinants can include socioeconomic status, education, employment, access to healthcare, social support networks, and the physical environment. By understanding and addressing these social determinants, we can work towards creating a more equitable and healthier society for all individuals. Focusing on these factors can help improve overall well-being and reduce health disparities among different populations.
With your mouse, hover over each of the 5 pillars below to discover SEMHA’s efforts to address SDOH.
Tap each colored band below to discover SEMHA’s efforts to address SDOH.
SEMHA facilitates collaboration between multiple partners to support diverse career advancement pathways for Community Health Workers (CHWs) that will promote social and economic mobility.
Through the Promotion of Health Equity Project, SEMHA partners with the education sector to address health-related needs of children and families that will lead to better educational achievement.
SEMHA provides services aimed at enhancing relationships between individuals and families and their care providers. These include the Kids' Health Connections programs, as well as initiatives such as the Promotion of Health Equity Project and the Senior CHW Pipeline Project, which focus on improving care coordination.
SEMHA offers CHWs consistent social support through networking events, aiding access to avenues for career progression. Through the Senior CHW Pipeline Project, SEMHA also collaborates with partners to provide social assistance to marginalized populations hindering their attainment of optimal health.
SEMHA collaborates with Wayne State University’s Center for Health Equity and Community Knowledge in Urban Populations (CHECK-UP) to spearhead community engagement initiatives in areas at heightened risk of encountering mental health challenges, cancer, and cardiovascular issues. This collaboration aims to pinpoint underlying causes and foster community-driven solutions.
Economic Stability
SEMHA facilitates collaboration between multiple partners to support diverse career advancement pathways for Community Health Workers (CHWs) that will promote social and economic mobility.
Education
Through the Promotion of Health Equity Project, SEMHA partners with the education sector to address health-related needs of children and families that will lead to better educational achievement.
Health & Healthcare
SEMHA provides services aimed at enhancing relationships between individuals and families and their care providers. These include the Kids’ Health Connections programs, as well as initiatives such as the Promotion of Health Equity Project and the Senior CHW Pipeline Project, which focus on improving care coordination.
Social & Community
SEMHA offers CHWs consistent social support through networking events, aiding access to avenues for career progression. Through the Senior CHW Pipeline Project, SEMHA also collaborates with partners to provide social assistance to marginalized populations hindering their attainment of optimal health.
Neighborhood & Built Environment
SEMHA collaborates with Wayne State University’s Center for Health Equity and Community Knowledge in Urban Populations (CHECK-UP) to spearhead community engagement initiatives in areas at heightened risk of encountering mental health challenges, cancer, and cardiovascular issues. This collaboration aims to pinpoint underlying causes and foster community-driven solutions.