Amid all the holiday functions that are rapidly approaching, mark your calendar for the 2018 Jefferson County Health Action Partnership Annual Summit in December. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate, and gain insight into, continuing efforts that support the Bold Goals Coalition’s mission to improve the health of communities across Central Alabama. This year’s event will be from 8 to 10 a.m. on December 12th at Regions Field in Birmingham.
The Summit will highlight the release of the 2018 Jefferson County Health Equity Report. This is the five-year follow-up to the landmark report entitled Place Matters for Health in Jefferson County. The new document features current data and local health outcomes as well as updates on progress toward achieving health equity in Central Alabama.
Dr. Monica Baskin, Professor and Vice Chair for Culture and Diversity and Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement within the UAB School of Medicine, will deliver this year’s keynote address highlighting the findings within the Health Equity Report.
Dr. Baskin has amassed a number of remarkable achievements in the course of her career: earning a doctoral degree in psychology from Georgia State University; receiving numerous federally funded research grants to reduce and/or eliminate health disparities through community-based participatory research; serving as Chair of the Jefferson County Collaborative for Health Equity and the Health Action Partnership Advancing Health Equity Priority Group; and serving as a member of the inaugural cohort of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Culture of Health Leaders. Most recently, she has been recognized with awards from both the UAB School of Medicine and the UAB Health System for her efforts to advance diversity and inclusion.
In an effort to address the comprehensive nature of community health, the work of the Jefferson County Health Action Partnership is currently focused on improving mental health, optimizing healthcare access, advancing health equity, promoting healthy lifestyles and improving the built environment, transportation and safety. The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, Jefferson County Department of Health, UAB, Community Food Bank of Central Alabama and United Way of Central Alabama are currently providing leadership to the nearly 100 community organizations working in these areas.
All of these efforts are designed to reinforce and advance the Bold Goals Coalition’s collaborative approach to ensuring that Central Alabama counties (Blount, Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair and Walker) will be ranked in the top 10 for health outcomes in Alabama by 2025.