Our Commitment to Advancing Health Equity
Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. believes that to improve the wellness of the least served and fully live out its mission of “Serving Humanity to Honor God,” it must recognize the inequities inherent in its communities that contribute to poor health outcomes. Health Equity is both the process and goal by which Methodist Healthcare Ministries seeks to carry out that purpose. Health Equity is a framework of thought and action that strives to reduce racial and socio-economic disparities and create fair and just opportunities for every person to reach their full potential for health and life and contribute to that of others.
Health Equity Video Series
As part of our efforts to advance health equity, we have created a video series that features community voices from across Texas sharing how they are working together with neighbors, local leaders and organizations to help more people have fair and just opportunities to thrive.
MHM’s Health Equity Framework
Working with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), Methodist Healthcare Ministries’ Board of Directors approved a framework adapted from IHI’s Pathways to Population Health model. It was designed by 100 Million Lives, a global initiative of IHI, to help organizations like Methodist Healthcare Ministries deepen their ability to improve population health, well-being, and equity. This framework connects medical, behavioral, social and spiritual health for individuals to community health and well-being efforts to advance health equity.
Methodist Healthcare Ministries’ strategic framework is a continuum of care centered around two pillars: 1) Fostering the development of empowered, resilient individuals and families (Thriving People); and 2) Contributing to the overall health and well-being of communities by strengthening conditions of the environments in the places where people exist through long-term, sustainable collaboration. (Thriving Places).
Thriving People encompasses:
- Physical and/or Mental Health: Improving the physical and/or mental health of patients and clients through an integrated care model.”
- Social and/or Spiritual Well-Being: Screening for and addressing patients’ and clients’ social and spiritual needs and drivers of health and well-being. (Social needs/drivers encompass socioeconomic factors, such as food, housing, education, transportation, and income, as well as social connectedness. Spiritual drivers include factors that contribute to a sense of purpose, meaning, self-worth, hope, and resilience.)
Thriving Places encompasses:
- Community Conditions: Working together with community partners to improve specific health and well-being outcomes for a place-based population.”
- Root Causes: Working with communities of color and other marginalized groups to address historic and present-day structural inequities, and to shift narratives, policies, and investments to grow community power and build a more equitable system.
Advancing Health Equity Blog Series
Our Advancing Health Equity Blog Series takes a closer look at how Methodist Healthcare Ministries is sharpening its focus to more intentionally advance health equity. The series highlights the inequities inherent in communities across South Texas, and why supporting resilient families and building thriving communities to address vital conditions, intergenerational poverty and socio-economic disparities is critical to our mission of “Serving Humanity to Honor God.”
Sometimes, changing health outcomes begins with changing your perspective. Dr. Michael Lane, Board of Directors Chair for Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc., remembers a story from several years ago where a team was treating a San Antonio resident who kept returning to the hospital for pneumonia. After the physician and the medical team dug deeper into their patient’s life, they found this woman, a senior citizen, lived in poor housing conditions filled with mold. Mold that was contributing to her frequent trips to the hospital. Click here to read the full blog.
Advancing health equity is a long-term commitment that requires multiple approaches. To guide its strategic efforts for increased impact, Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. has defined three focus areas that will act as a roadmap for the next ten years of its work: Transform Internal Processes and Culture, Strengthen Communities, and Impact Systemic Changes. Click here to read the full blog.
On August 31, Methodist Healthcare Ministries, along with key partners and members of the community gathered at The Neighborhood Place in the Westside of San Antonio to learn more about how economic mobility approaches and interventions can positively impact the city of San Antonio and other communities. Click here to read the full blog.
Contact Us
For more information on Methodist Healthcare Ministries’ health equity journey, or for information about you could implement your own health equity strategy, please email us at healthequity@mhm.org.