comunitybenefit

Community Benefit
Programs for Hospitals and Providers

Community Benefit programs are evidenced-based services and programs developed for hospitals and healthcare providers to promote physical and emotional health, safety, and wellness of patients in underserved communities. Research, development, and evaluation is provided by Public Health Behavior Solutions, University of Southern California, and governmental research teams and organizations. Programs and services are provided by Pro Consumer Safety.

The following "Community Benefit" programs are developed for hospitals and healthcare providers, including those serving Native American, and military base communities (Veterans Medical Centers, Tricare) to promote health and safety in response to identified community needs that improves access to care, enhances the health of the community, and/or reduce the burden of services and programs among government agencies and community organizations (NHCS - Community Benefit, n.d.; What Counts as Community Benefit, n.d.-b). These programs help to address the needs of the patients’ community social needs, outside clinical care and the provider facility (Chandrashekar, et al., 2022). These programs have been developed by the Community Health and Safety Division of Public Health Behavior Solutions (PHBS) through research and collaboration among governmental agencies, research institutions and community organizations. PHBS follows a similar mission of the Center to Advance Community Health & Equity by working together with these agencies to develop evidenced-based community benefit programs to "improve long-term health" and "eliminate health inequities (CACHE, n.d.).

If you represent a hospital or are a healthcare provider, we look forward to talking with you to see how these programs can benefit your facility, patients, and their community.

Contact Dr. James DeCarli, Public Health Behavior Solutions/Pro Consumer Safety at 323-491-6197.

Car Seat Community Benefit Program

Expectant Parents
A hospital and provider-based, sustainable and equitable car seat educational service, that provides post-patient care and community benefit that empowers expectant parents to correctly install their car seat and restrain their newborn baby properly. The program uses an evidenced-based behavioral skills training approach to reduce critical misuse.

Car Seat Loaner Program and Services for Children in Temporary Spica Casts

The car seat loaner program is designed to assist hospitals in developing a special needs car seat loaner program for children in temporary (4 to 12 weeks) Spica casts and provides an evidenced-based a service to patients throughout the use of their car seat.

Parent-Child Development Class
Expectant/New Parents & Elementary-aged Children

New Parents & Elementary-aged ChildrenDeveloped for expectant/new parents and parents of elementary-aged children. It applies interactive methods of a Neurodevelopmental Protective Pathway Model (NPPM) that activates underdevelopmental protective pathways to reduce adolescent risk behavior and promotes healthy lifestyles for both the parent and child.

Parent and Teen Empowerment Class
Parents & Middle/High School Aged

Designed for parents of middle and high-school aged children. It applies part of the NPPM, but its focus is on the Self-Motivated Transformational Choice Model (SM-TCM) and the Emotional Re-activity Change Model (ERCM), shown to strengthen neurodevelopmental protective pathways that promote healthy risk-taking behavior, to improve ones ability to make healthy personal choices and healthy lifestyles in both the parent and the teen.

Empowered Youth Achievement Class
Parents & Children 17 & Younger (near at-risk)

Developed for parents and youth ages 17 and younger who are at the early stage of risk-taking behaviors that have violated state penal codes. While this was designed for California Vehicle Code and/or California Penal Code, it can be applied to benefit adolescences throughout any state. It applies part of the NPPM and the SM-TCM, as well as the ERCM, to help the child and parent identify healthy choices that they desire and strengthen neurodevelopmental protective pathways to promote healthy lifestyles in both the parent and the teen.

Making Choices as an Adolescent Adult
Ages 18-24

An interactive class, developed for young adults, adolescents ages between the ages of 18-24. While those within this age group are classified as adults, the adolescent brain is not fully developed until mid to late 20's. Whereas the choices and actions that these teen makes are made with the Limbic system of the brain. These choices are made with elevated levels of dopamine based on feelings, instead of the prefrontal cortex of the brain, that is not fully developed. The prefrontal cortex helps to make long-term choices and decisions. As a result, choices made during this stage of development can often result in unintended life-choices.

This class, provides a benefit to adolescent adults, who are interested in learning how to make choices, that they will not regret later. They will obtain self-guided tools to help them understand how the brain makes choices and how they can learn to be empowered to make the life choices that will get them in the direction they desire. This is helpful to college students, as well as those of this age group who are in the workforce.

This also provides a benefit to support Healthy Campus programs, by empowering students to make improved choices, promoting academic success and completion, and life-long learning. This class can be designed as a credit class, a class offered at the student health center, or for programs offered to students organizations and university housing.

References

CACHE. (n.d.). CACHE. https://www.thecachecenter.org

Chandrashekar, P., Gee, R. E., & Bhatt, J. (2022). Rethinking Community Benefit Programs—A New Vision for Hospital Investment in Community Health. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 37(5), 1278–1280. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-021-07324-0

NHCS - Community Benefit. (n.d.). https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhcs/community_benefit.htm

What Counts as Community Benefit. (n.d.-b). https://www.chausa.org/communitybenefit/what-counts