Bridges into Health - 2/24/2012

ATTENTION HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS:
Join us Friday, February 24, 2012 from 9 am to 3pm at St. Vincent DePaul Society: 520 Crescent Ave., South Bend, IN.  Bridges Into Health: Strategies to Reduce Inequities and Improve Health Outcomes.
Poverty's impact on the Health sector

Bridges Into Health: Strategies to Reduce Inequities and Improve Health Outcomes
Friday, February 24 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
 

$50 includes coffee, lunch and materials (Registration opens at 8 a.m.)
@ St. Vincent DePaul Society: 520 Crescent Ave, South Bend

Poor health is a huge cost of poverty in the United States and poverty is a huge health care cost.  Bridges Into Health dovetails the Bridges Out of Poverty concepts and tools with the growing body of health inequities research. Economic class affects all aspects of health and health care. To improve this, strategies must address economic class and other social determinants.  The workshop includes a continuum of policy and practice critical to
improving health among the disadvantaged. Research links overall health to economic stability, education, safe and affordable housing, nutrition/food security, and other factors. Meaningful learning tasks, direct teaching, videos, and large-group dialogue are integrated into this workshop. 

Bridges Into Health:
• Highlights how social capital and social interactions can be redesigned to improve health outcomes
• Provides an overview of research that indicates "poverty is making us sick"
• Introduces a dialogue on how Robert Sapolsky's "Theory of Social Coherence" is limiting access to health care within our health care systems and community health initiatives
• Illustrates tools to address health inequities

The workshop is for community leaders from all sectors, as well as clinical staff at all levels in the private nonprofit and public health sectors. There will be a two-hour Bridges Out of Poverty overview from a fresh perspective embedded in the workshop.  Terie Dreussi-Smith, M.A.Ed. co-authored Bridges Out of Poverty; Strategies for
Professionals and Communities. She served as Supervisor of Prevention Services at a community alcohol/ drug treatment and prevention organization and was instrumental in the organizationʼs redesign of programs and services for prevention and early intervention clients from generational poverty. She also has served as adjunct faculty for several colleges focused on empowering adult students transitioning out poverty. In her recent consultant work, Terie assisted communities to embed Bridges Out of Poverty concepts in redesigning
policies and services for families and youth in generational poverty.

For registration and more information contact the St. Joseph County Bridges Out of
Poverty Initiaive at sjcbridges @ gmail.com or 574.339.1232