GNYHA’s recent Social Determinants of Health (SDH) Learning Series webinar focused on how—and why—hospitals should leverage the link between civic engagement and improved health outcomes. The webinar featured Northwell Health and Mount Sinai Health System representatives discussing their programs and how other hospitals and health systems can integrate similar initiatives.
The event provided “resources to continue or start civic engagement programming at your hospitals,” said GNYHA’s Shanaz Chery, Director, Population Health. Civic engagement means working to improve communities such as by voting, she noted, adding that a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study has found a consistent association between voting and better health outcomes.
Mount Sinai Health System’s Stella Safo, MD, MPH, HIV Primary Care Physician, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine, and Civic Health Alliance Cofounder, said that participation in community engagement efforts is associated with improved mental health, higher income, and higher education. Voting in particular has been linked to better self-reported health outcomes in later years of life, Dr. Safo said. She highlighted the work of the Civic Health Alliance, a nonpartisan group of health and civic leaders seeking to advance America’s health through civic engagement in care settings and communities. Dr. Safo helped create the group in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 public health emergency “to help health care workers organize their peers and their patients to get out and vote safely.” The group now focuses on ways “we can offer easy and accessible opportunities” for health care workers to get involved in civic engagement. The Alliance recently created the Civic Health Compact, which is guidelines for hospitals seeking to get involved in civic engagement. One key way is to partner with local community-based organizations (CBOs) that will come onsite to do get-out-the-vote activities.
Northwell Health’s Elizabeth Cohn, RN, PhD, FAAN, Vice President for Health Equity Research, Professor of Institute of Health System Science, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Zucker School of Medicine, discussed Vote North, Northwell’s three-part initiative to get providers, patients, and communities thinking about voting. Phases one and two of the effort focus on voter registration and absentee ballot submission, respectively. Based on Northwell’s guidelines, each hospital or participating entity will recruit volunteers from within its own ranks to work in high-traffic areas of the hospital, including the main lobby, to register eligible voters.
The SDH Learning Series presents research and public health, CBO, and health care provider perspectives and experiences in addressing social needs such as housing, food, finance, and job insecurity. Ongoing population health initiatives emphasize the need to address patients’ non-health care needs as part of comprehensive strategies to improve health while reducing avoidable hospitalizations and improving performance on quality measures. This series is part of GNYHA’s efforts to support members’ broader SDH goals.