HHS Region 6
Texas
YouthWISE (Wellness & Information for Smoking and E-Cigarettes)
Tyler, TX
Cohort 13 - 2024
NLAPH
Overview
Our project aims to address adolescent e-cigarette and tobacco use in East Texas and includes five primary initiatives:
Conduct cross-sectional survey to assess adolescent tobacco product use in the selected counties,
Provide partner schools with best-practice solutions to reduce student use of tobacco products,
Provide schools with a technical report to inform policy regarding student access and health outcomes,
Provide students with information about e-cigarette and tobacco use health outcomes through educational presentations and
Organize a health symposium featuring continuing education opportunities for concerned stakeholders on youth tobacco use.
Team members
Joseph Byrum (Team Coordinator)
Next Step Community Solutions
Kimberly Elliott
University of Texas at Tyler
Yordanos Tiruneh
University of Texas at Tyler
Amanda Watson
DSHS - Texas Department of State Health Services
Bexar County Violence Prevention Collaborative
San Antonio and Bexar County, TX
Cohort 12 - 2023
NLAPH
Overview
The team will lead the process to develop a Violence Prevention Plan for San Antonio and Bexar County. The plan will identify and define strategies to prevent and intervene in violence along a continuum and throughout the lifespan. The plan will update the 2019 Domestic Violence Comprehensive Plan and build on it to incorporate prevention strategies for other community violence issues such as gun-related violence, child abuse and neglect, sexual abuse, and acts of mass violence.
Team members
Erica Haller-Stevenson
San Antonio Metropolitan Health District
Chris Benavides
San Antonio Police Department
Kellie Lynch
University of Texas at San Antonio
Tracy Tate
St. John Baptist Church
Documents
The East Texas ACE Task Force
Tyler, TX
Cohort 11 - 2022
NLAPH
Overview
In 2019, the Northeast Texas Health Standards Collective Impact Initiative began a community-wide assessment of factors contributing to exceptionally poor health outcomes in the region. Involving an Executive Committee made up of important community stakeholders, the group identified childhood mental health as an area of focus which could have a major impact. The group has identified five components of ACE-related responses, including: Awareness, Prevention, Recovery/Support, Screening, and Treatment. The team will use insights from the academy to direct the project in each of the five areas towards tangible outcomes.
Team members
Mickey Slimp
MS Consulting
Brandon Davidson
Next Step Community Solutions
Pierre Neuenschwander
The Health Science Center, University of Texas at Tyler
Leigh Anne Barber
Whitehouse Independent School District
Tecora Smith
Northeast Texas Public Health District
Documents
Fort Bend County Public Health Advisory Team
Richmond, TX
Cohort 10 - 2021
NLAPH
Overview
The team will assess all social determinants of health factors in Fort Bend County by conducting a Community Needs Assessment with major stakeholders.
Using this assessment, they will identify priority issues and determine the top five priority issues. They then hope to create an intervention plan for each issue along with emphasis on an environmental, social, built environment, economic and political context.
The plan will be presented to elected officials and stakeholders within Fort Bend County, and the team will develop an ongoing committee to implement the plan.
Team members
Oluwagbenga (Ben) Adesope
Fort Bend County Health and Human Services
Connie Almeida
Fort Bend County Behavioral Health Services
Matt Carter
Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office
Caroline Egan
Fort Bend County Homeland & Security and Office of Emergency Management
East Texas Cares
Tyler, TX
Cohort 8 - 2019
NLAPH
Overview
The team’s AHLP is focused on transforming the health status of Northeast Texas via a Collective Impact Initiative. Northeast Texas has some of the worst rates for the leading causes of mortality, including heart disease, cancer, chronic respiratory illnesses, and strokes. Some factors that are placing Northeast Texans at a higher risk include smoking habits, obesity, high blood pressure, sedentary lifestyle, and poverty.
The team found that previous efforts among hospitals, universities, and coalitions to combat these health problems were siloed. As such, their AHLP aims to establish a collective that is multi-sectorial, has common goals and strategies, and is better capable of engaging the community.
Team members
Harrison Ndetan
University of Texas Health Science Center
Jeanette Deas Calhoun
East Texas Cares Resource Center
George T. Roberts, Jr.
Northeast Texas Public Health District
Ralph E. Caraway, Sr.
St. Louis Baptist Church
Healthy Cities 2.0
Dallas, TX
Cohort 8 - 2019
NLAPH
Overview
The team hopes to expand the Healthy Cities project to six additional recreation sites in Dallas and deploy Community Health Workers (CHWs) to increase engagement with local primary care physicians, help prevent and improve control of chronic conditions, and encourage increased consumption of fruits and vegetables. The program includes an evidence-based self-management program, cooking and nutrition programs, and other wellness services.
Team members
Tes Blackburn
Southern Sector Health Initiative
LaShonda Worthey
Dallas County Health and Human Services
Candace Thompson
Baylor Scott & White Health and Wellness Center
Keshia Randle
City of Dallas, Park and Recreation Department
Documents
Houston Pediatric Asthma Reduction Team
Houston, TX
Cohort 6 - 2017
NLAPH
Overview
In 2012, children asthma-related care costs in Houston cost the Texas Children’s Health Plan in excess of $4 million dollars. By 2025, Houston is expected to rank fourth in the United States for pediatric asthma episodes and lost school days due to ozone season and lost school days due to asthma. Between 2004 and 2013, an estimated 1,800 asthma attacks in children were treated via ambulance response for children residing in Houston’s Independent School District, equating to one ambulance-related asthma treatment every other day in this 10-year period for a health issue that is often preventable. The highest rates of ambulance treatment occurred in school zones with a higher percentage of socioeconomically disadvantaged students. The racial/ethnic makeup of 37 of the 41 high-rate elementary school zones is over 90% African American and/or Hispanic.
The need for dissemination and implementation of established asthma management strategies to promote asthma control in children is critical. Evidence points to the potential success of multi-sector interventions that address child asthma management and control through integration of medical care (access, quality, and coverage of care), family (caregiver management), home (environmental), and community (school-based).
The proposed study will examine a cross-sector approach to the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based asthma care interventions in Houston, Texas. The team will use a collaborative approach to promote program integration into practice across medical care, payor, community, home, and individual levels. School nurses will identify high-risk asthmatic children, provide continued asthma education and monitoring, communicate with providers as needed, and evaluate the need for/initiate community health worker asthma trigger home assessment visits and remediation. Integrated care will occur through open communication between nurse, payor/provider, health worker, and family.
Team members
Loren Raun
City of Houston Health Department/Rice University Department of Statistics
Gwen Johnson
Houston Independent School District
Daniel Price
University of Houston, Honors College
Patricia Emerson
Texas Children's Health Plan
4A+ Health [Collective Impact for Asian American Mental Health through Education and Connection]
Austin/Travis County, TX
Cohort 3 - 2014
NLAPH
Overview
The project aims to:
Increase student awareness of the racial undertones of bullying
Increase mental health support for students who are harassed/bullied
Increase family, teacher, and counselor awareness of resources
Activities to achieve these objectives include marketing to schools, faith-based, and other community organizations for culturally appropriate Asian American resources.
Team members
Vincent Cobalis
Asian American Resource Center
Thao Phan
Austin-Bee Caves Consulting
Nicole Williams
St. Andrews Episcopal
Peteria Chan
Texas Department of State Health Services
Waco Community Health Improvement Plan Team
McLennan County, TX
Cohort 3 - 2014
NLAPH
Overview
The Waco Community Health Improvement Plan Team will focus on three priority health areas affecting their county: Obesity, Women’s Health, and Access to Health Care. Their AHLP aims to increase the number of residents who engage in healthy eating, physical activity, and for women, increasing the number who receive annual exams and prenatal care by the end of their first trimester. The Team also aims to reduce the number of patients who use the ER as a source of non-ER care.
Team members
Kahler Stone
Waco-McLennan County Public Health District
Natalie Kelinske
Planned Parenthood of Greater
Ashley Thornton
Seeds of Hope Publishers/ALW
Ramona Curtis
Baylor University