Partner Spotlight: Community Voices Council

The Community Voices Council is off and running!  

This council's charge is to tap directly into the needs of the very citizens the Transformation is meant to serve. With that in mind, it was decided that the top priority for recruitment is to ensure that we have representation from each of the populations identified within the four project areas selected for our region. This will include folks experienced with co-occurring disorders (both a behavioral health issue and a chronic disease), pregnant Medicaid moms, people transitioning from jail, those with diabetes or prediabetes, children with asthma, youth exiting foster care, and those impacted by the opioid crisis. 

Once established, this group will be responsible for developing health equity metrics for the Collaboratives as they prepare their Transformation plans and also for ensuring that the plans meet the needs of the patients which they aim to serve. The entire council will be comprised of at least 50% Medicaid Beneficiaries, with the other half made up of Community advocates with first-hand experience helping complex patients access and navigate community services. We are still in recruitment mode, and BHT is currently drafting a job description and application for those interested in joining the council. We are also reviewing member submissions received through our online survey. We are very excited about the potential for this growing space to amplify community voices!

During our last meeting we welcomed guest speaker, Gretchen Hansen, from the Foundation for Healthy Generations. Gretchen has experience leading a similar council in the Pierce County ACH, and led an informative and lively discussion about the best methods for creating an authentic community voice. We appreciated hearing her advice on how to make sure that our council represents the diverse range of experiences of the people in our region. View the meeting notes here.