Health equity remains a major issue among underserved populations, with a complex interplay between race, social determinants of health, and health outcomes. One organization working to advance health equity is Our Healthy Community (OHC), which is dedicated to improving health outcomes in underserved communities. To help achieve this, OHC is working to bridge the gap between faith-based organizations, community organizations, and the healthcare industry.
“Our mission centers around providing a culturally appropriate ecosystem that’s built for leaders of community- and faith-based organizations,” says Silas Buchanan, CEO of OHC. “This ensures that their voices, priorities, and experiences guide our work. We aim to shorten the distance between these organizations and their members, supporting connections that can be local, regional, national, and international.”
“We also reduce the distance between these communities and healthcare stakeholders—such as payers, providers, academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and other life science firms—to increase health literacy across the board,” adds Sharon Ricks, MA, Director of Community-Engaged Research for OHC. “Our work is funded by healthcare stakeholders as part of their efforts to improve engagement with these communities.”
Overcoming the “Sea of Distrust” of the Healthcare System
“Our diverse communities often distrust the healthcare system,” states Ricks. “At Our Healthy Community, we provide safe spaces to engage, first building trust by helping community members get what they need. Our infrastructure is ready for nonprofits to use, with the added benefit that they can connect with other organizations to build a system for collaboration and sharing of best practices. Once these relationships are in place, we facilitate indirect interactions with healthcare stakeholders. This can bridge the sea of distrust that exists, bringing healthcare stakeholders closer to these communities.”
More than 100 Community Organizations Represented
OHC operates across three platforms—all of which are free of the ads and bots that plague social media interactions:
- OHC Engage is built for secular and non-secular community members of color and researchers to work together in an equitable way. This platform centers on collective questions, needs, and capabilities relating to health equity issues. More than 100 community organizations are represented in OHC Engage, reflecting a broad and diverse network of partners with an interest in improving community health and research.
- OHC Research is a portal for researchers who are interested and invested in working with underrepresented communities.
- Community Innovation Labs is at the intersection of OHC Engage and OHC Research, offering opportunities for collaboration on research projects with dedicated, trained community groups.
“We are meeting the need for a culturally appropriate, technology-driven space that is ‘owned’ by an organization that represents the underserved,” explains Buchanan. “We provide our communities with technology to connect with their constituents, including video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, training software, and event management software.
“Our work centers on building trust with community,” adds Buchanan. “Often, the messenger is more important than the message, playing a key role in how and whether a message is received. A big part of what we do is to train community leaders and position them to deliver messaging. The fact that OHC is run by people of color is always welcomed by our communities, enabling individuals to speak more plainly in discussions related to health literacy.”
OHC can introduce communities to topics of interest to healthcare stakeholders. Options include organizing focus groups, interviews, or surveys to understand stakeholders’ perspectives, offering fair compensation for this input. The group can also ask about viewpoints on topics such as protocol design or the content of patient-facing materials for a particular clinical trial.
The Role of Organizational Health Literacy
“There has traditionally been a focus on the health literacy of underserved patient populations, but organizational health literacy is also essential,” notes Ricks. This is defined as the degree to which healthcare organizations use strategies to help patients understand health information, navigate the healthcare system, engage in the healthcare process, and manage their health. Bidirectional communication can benefit both parties.
“We are committed to helping researchers develop intercultural humility and cultural competency, enabling development of culturally appropriate messaging about clinical trials,” explains Ricks. “We work on health literacy organically through everything we do. When communicating with our communities we are careful to explain any medical terms we use, making sure we talk to people at a level they can understand. We aim to model organizational health literacy, so that when people come to our website or talk to our team, the communication is clear and makes sense to them. We’re also working on training offerings that would go deeper into topics such as community-engaged research and how to be research participants.”
Filling a Need for Underserved Communities of Color
While most of the communities OHC works with are African American, the organization is increasingly engaging with other underserved groups, according to Ricks. “These include trust brokers for health workers, in states such as Louisiana and Texas; Hispanic populations (driving a need for Spanish-language content); and the Haitian diaspora (who would like French-language materials),” he explains. “People are drawn to OHC because we fill a gap for communities of color, setting an atmosphere that makes them feel welcome because we have a shared purpose and passion for community.”
“Every month is Black History Month for us,” concludes Buchanan. “Looking ahead, it is critically important for clinical researchers and sponsors to look at how data and information can be shared back with communities once studies are complete. This will enable the communities to act on the data to the benefit of their members.”
“My advice to the clinical research community would be to engage with underserved communities at the earliest possible point in a study,” says Ricks. “Often, researchers come late in the process when the protocol is already in place. Initial outreach could take place when an idea is forming, before the research question has been fully developed. OHC can help evaluate new ideas by getting input from the community on needs and priorities. I’d suggest coming earlier and staying longer, enabling full input of these underserved communities to optimize all stages of clinical trials.
“We celebrate resilience of our communities,” concludes Ricks. “They keep wanting to engage, despite the barriers that exist. They want to engage with trusted partners to build healthier communities. At OHC, we believe we can do this together.”
Edited by Jill Dawson
