Oliveros and Kinney to chair Community Health Collaborative
Catherine Oliveros (l to r) and Ashleigh Kinney
The DFW Hospital Council (DFWHC) Foundation hosted a North Texas Community Health Collaborative Board Meeting on March 21 at its headquarters in Irving to discuss strategic priorities for 2018.
The board selected Catherine Oliveros, vice president of community health improvement at Texas Health Resources, as chair and Ashleigh Kinney, director of family services and child life at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, as vice-chair.
“We are thrilled to have Catherine and Ashleigh leading the Community Health Collaborative as they bring extensive knowledge from the hospitals and systems they serve,” said Dr. Sushma Sharma, director of public and population health research at the DFWHC Foundation. “They have both been actively serving on collaborative committees and have contributed significantly to the success of our ongoing behavioral health initiatives.”
Dr. Sharma presented a report on 2017 accomplishments and ongoing efforts on improving behavioral health disparities in North Texas.
Coordinated by the DFWHC Foundation, the North Texas Community Health Collaborative represents 11 area health systems with a strategic goal of improving mental health services over the next three years.
Goals established for the collaborative in 2018 include:
• Begin training 10,000 community members/health workers in mental health first aid;
• Create a best practice document for community activity surrounding substance abuse prevention and treatment;
• Evaluate collaborative programs and promote outcomes to partners for expansion in high disparity areas.
The Community Health Collaborative released a Behavioral Health Community Needs Assessment Report in February detailing 16 North Texas counties. The report revealed seven North Texas counties had no psychiatric care beds and the number of behavioral care providers throughout the region were below national and state levels.
If you are interested in lending your expertise to the collaborative, please contact Dr. Sharma at ssharma@dfwhcfoundation.org.