FOCUS
Breathitt County: Established “Change Teams” of organizations and residents; created the Breathitt County Community Health Foundation.
Clinton County: More than 450 people participated in first ever 5K Run for the Roses, 1K Family Fun Run/Walk and Health Fair which raised $5,400 for the coalition.
Grant County: The Fitness for Life around Grant County (FFLAG) coalition evaluated the results of 2,506 surveys, held classroom-based focus groups with 149 students and hosted six community forums.
Louisville Metro (Jefferson County): Decided to address Adverse Childhood Experiences through a pilot program with strong involvement from Jefferson County Public Schools.
McLean County: Conducted health assessments in schools, educating parents and students while creating base line
school health data.
Perry County: Worked with school and community leaders to develop their business plan.
Actions we take today shape the future health of Kentuckians. That’s the premise of our Investing in Kentucky’s Future (IKF) initiative. Coalitions in communities across the state are working to reduce chronic disease risk factors for today’s school-aged children so they will grow into healthier adults. 2014 was a planning year for IKF grantees. They were hard at work assessing the health of adults and children in their community, prioritizing one health issue, developing a strategy and business plan to address that issue and securing cash match for their grant.
We provide reliable health data for policymakers and stakeholders. 2014 highlights included a Community Health Worker convening organized by the Foundation and a gathering of stakeholders to discuss Price Transparency. We also issued a Request for Quotations for an independent study to assess Affordable Care Act implementation in Kentucky. This new study comes at a time when our three-year examination of Kentucky’s transition to Medicaid Managed Care is coming to a close.
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Promote policies that increase access to safe and effective integrated healthcare services (including primary care, behavioral health and oral health) and reduce wait times to needed care.
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Promote policies and practices that strengthen local public health.
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Promote policies to improve the health of Kentucky’s children.
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Promote policies to increase the number of Kentuckians living in smoke-free areas.
2014 grantees who work in these areas include Kentucky Center for Smoke-free Policy, Kentucky Voices for Health, Kentucky Youth Advocates, Kentucky Population Health Institute and Kentucky Equal Justice Center. Highlights of their work in 2014 include:
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Enhancements to kynect website to make the enrollment process easier
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Successful advocacy for Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) reauthorization
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Increased Medicaid enrollment & recertification for former foster kids to ensure
coverage until age 26 -
Increased numbers of Kentuckians protected by smoke-free ordinances
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Outreach and technical assistance that helped make Kentucky a national leader in the
number of accredited health departments
KENTUCKY HEALTHY FUTURES INITIATIVE
2014 marked our final investment in the four-year Kentucky Healthy Futures Initiative (KHFI). The KHFI portfolio includes nurse managed clinics, telemedicine, mobile health services, care navigation and an activities center. Funding from the Foundation, federal
Social Innovation Fund (SIF) and local entities made the innovations possible.
We were one of only eleven organizations nationwide to receive a SIF grant in 2010, matching $3 million of Foundation resources with $3 in federal funds to launch KHFI. Funds were then re-granted to nine nonprofits working in low income and rural communities to improve access to healthcare, reduce health risks and disparities and promote health equity. The nonprofits matched each dollar they received with funds raised locally.
KHFI projects have improved the quality of life for more than 20,000 Kentuckians, provided training for more than 250 providers and reached underserved populations in more than 90 of Kentucky’s 120 counties.
By bringing folks together they have been able to give people a more complete view of the issues.
- Government Official
