Learn. Connect. Act.
Social Determinants of Equity
We held our 10th Annual We Can Do Better Conference on January 17, 2019 from 8:00am – 4:30pm at the Portland Art Museum’s Kridel Grand Ballroom in Portland, OR.
Do you ever wish the health transformation debate was actually about health? That it was going to positively impact you, and the people you care most about? Our annual conference does just that, brings the focus back to what is most important — improving our health, better experiences when we get care, and doing it at a cost we can afford. We will examine what a good health care system should deliver, a “map” to determine if the path we’re on is moving us towards a better health care system, one that includes affordable and available care, but has a broader goal of improving health.
Our conference brings together critical thinkers in health and health care to identify the barriers to improving health and how we can address them. It delivers pertinent information to help us understand Oregon’s health transformation process, and where the community’s voice is needed to move that process forward.
Our vision – that only by working together can we create a system for all Oregonians that results in better health care and health. During our 2019 Conference we will:
- Present a framework we can use to improve our health care system
- Offer updates on federal and state health policy.
- Identify the priority areas for action to improve health and provide better care.
- Create powerful health caucuses that come from the community instead of a political party.
This year’s speakers included:
Camara Jones, MD, MPH, PhD
KEYNOTE SPEAKER Sponsored by PacificSource
Dr. Jones is a family physician and epidemiologist whose work focuses on the impacts of racism on the health and well-being of the nation. She seeks to broaden the national health debate to include not only universal access to high quality health care, but also attention to the social determinants of health (including poverty) and the social determinants of equity (including racism).
Frank Franklin, PhD, JD, MPH
LUNCH KEYNOTE SPEAKER Sponsored by Kaiser Permanente NW
Dr. Frank Franklin is an epidemiologist with applied experience in injury and forensic epidemiology. He is trained in injury epidemiology and injury prevention from Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, Center for Injury Research and Policy, where he received his PhD. Franklin received his MPH in epidemiology and international health from the Morehouse School of Medicine, and a BS in biology from Morgan State University. Franklin also hold a Juris Doctor from the Kline School of Law, Drexel University, and currently serves as the principal epidemiologist and director of Community Epidemiology Services with the Public Health Division of the Multnomah County Health Department.
AGENDA
8:00 – 9:00am Registration and networking, coffee and light breakfast
9:00 – 9:15am Welcome: Amy Fellows, Executive Director of WCDB
9:15 – 10:45am Keynote: Social Determinants of Equity Dr. Camara Jones, Morehouse School of Medicine Introduction: Dan Stevens, Pacific Source
10:45 – 11:00am Morning Networking Break
11:00 – 12:15pm Equity and Systems Change Panel Watch it here Moderator: Leann Johnson- OHA Office of Equity and Inclusion Panelists: Mandy Davis- Trauma Informed Oregon Ben Duncan- Multnomah County Equity Program Royal Harris- Multnomah County Health Department Lindsey Watchman- Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center
12:15 – 12:45pm Networking Lunch
12:45 – 1:30pm Lunch Keynote: Race, Poverty and Health: Creating Systems Change Dr. Frank Franklin, Multnomah County Health Department Introduction: Vena Ford, Kaiser Permanente Northwest
1:30 – 1:40pm Break
1:40 – 2:45pm Allies for a Healthier Oregon (AHO) 2019 Policy Themes Watch it here Moderator: Kirsten Isaacson- SEIU 49 Panelists: Chris Bouneff- National Alliance of the Mentally Ill Oregon Jana Gastellum- Oregon Environmental Council Lynn Knox- Oregon Food Bank
2:45 – 3:00pm Break
3:00- 4:00pm Community Organizing for Equity Watch it here Moderator: Karen Shimada- Oregon Oral Health Coalition Panelists: Edna Nyamu- Oregon Community Health Workers Association Erin Schulten- Klamath County Department of Health Annie Valtierra-Sanchez- Southern Oregon Health Equity Coalition
4:00 – 4:15pm Call to action, closing remarks Dr. Camara Jones
LOCATION: The Portland Art Museum event venue is located at 1119 SW Park Avenue, Portland, OR 97205. Our conference will be held in the Mark Building on the corner of SW Park and Main. The front doors are located on Park; please take the lobby elevator or the stairs to the Kridel Grand Ballroom on the 3rd floor. There is VERY limited paid street and lot parking. Public transportation is encouraged, and there’s a Portland Streetcar stop on the opposite side of the Museum (on SW 10th), a multi-line Tri-Met stop on 10th & Jefferson, and the Max is also approximately 3 blocks at SW 6th & Madison.
We Can Do Better views health as a product of many factors. Using our website, social media, and community forums, we share creative ways that communities approach health – through affordable and nutritious food, safe biking and pedestrian walkways, housing, equity issues and yes, improving the medical system.
We Can Do Better is not your typical non-profit, and each year we host a not-so-typical conference as illustrated by a comment from a 2013 conference participant, “I usually leave this sort of thing feeling pretty depressed about the hopelessness of it all. On the drive home from this conference, I was full of ideas of things that I could do. That sounds kind of trite when I say it, but I am looking at some things in a whole new way. Now all I need is to take that from thought into action.”
To get a flavor of our conference, please see our page about last year’s event. Contact us if you want to help plan, volunteer the day of or contribute to our scholarship fund so everyone who wants to attend can Learn, Connect and Act.
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