Central Oregon Health Quality Alliance

BREAKING BARRIERS TO HEALTH: PEER TO PEER MENTORSHIP PROGRAM FOR PEOPLE EXPERIENCING A DISABILITY.

TOBACCO CESSATION PROGRAM

SCHOOL DENTAL SERVICES PROGRAM

VILLAGE COMMUNITY RESOURCE SPECIALIST OUTREACH PROGRAM

INTEGRATED PERINATAL MENTAL HEALTH PROJECT

HEALTH WITHIN REACH - DIABETES EDUCATION WITH ORAL HEALTH AND HEALTHY FOOD SUPPORTS FOR LOW-INCOME LATINX PATIENTS: WITH COHQA SUPPORT, VOLUNTEERS IN MEDICINE (VIM) WILL PILOT A DENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM FOR 12 PATIENTS WHO PARTICIPATE IN VIM'S DIABETES EDUCATION PROGRAM. PATIENTS WILL WORK WEEKLY WITH VIM'S TWO VOLUNTEER CERTIFIED DIABETES EDUCATORS AND/OR VIM'S STAFF RN DIABETES CARE COORDINATOR. PATIENTS WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A $25 GROCERY GIFT CARD FOR EACH WEEK THEY PARTICIPATE IN DIABETES EDUCATION, AND THEY WILL BE ELIGIBLE TO BEGIN DENTAL GREATMENT AFTER FOUR WEEKS.

INTEGRATED HEALTH COACH/NUTRITIONIST + PCP TARGETED APPROACH

PROMOTING PARTNERSHIP AUTISM EVALUATIONS FOR EARLY LEARNERS: THE INTENT OF THIS PROJECT IS TO INTEGRATE AUTISM EVALUATIONS OF EARLY LEARNERS THROUGH THE EARLY INTERVENTION/EARLY CHILDHOOD SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAM AT THE HIGH DESERT ESD AND THE PEDAL CLINIC AT ST. CHARLES MEDICAL CENTER. HISTORICALLY, ACADEMIC AND MEDICAL EVALUATIONS FOR AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER HAVE BEEN ADMINISTERED SEPARATELY. THESE SEPARATE EVALUATIONS ARE DIFFICULT FOR FAMILIES BECAUSE OF THE STRESS AND ANXIETY OF UNDERGOING TWO SEPARATE EVALUATIONS AT TWO DIFFERENT LOCATIONS. A PILOT PROGRAM THAT INTEGRATES THE TWO EVALUATIONS HAS BEEN UNDERWAY THIS PAST YEAR, AND IT HAS BEEN WELL-RECEIVED BY EDUCATORS, MEDICAL STAFF, AND MOST IMPORTANLY, CHILDREN AND FAMILIES.

This pilot is a collaborative effort in Hood River and Wasco Counties that will serve medically frail older adult patients, with a commitment to increasing services to Latin x and indigenous patients with in-home, patient-centered and integrated care and advocacy support delivered by Community Health Workers(CHWs). Based on the evidence-based GRACE Team Care model, the pilot is spearheaded by the Older Adult Working Group of the Clinical Advisory Panel for the Columbia Gorge Health Council in partnership with One Community Health and the Bridges to Health Pathways Program. Funding will support the adaptation and piloting of new older adult protocols for CHWs, codifying protocols, and developing related continuing education opportunities for pilot staff and CHWs regionally and across the state.

Treehouse Therapies is partnering with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and the Central Oregon Disabilities Support Network(CODSN)to open a therapeutic clinic and directly serve children with special needs who live in the Warm Springs community and the surrounding areas. Currently, there are no such services in that community and families must drive to Redmond and BEnd to access therapy for their children. Coupled with insurance and financial limitations, often these children have to forgo therapy. The funding will go towards paying physical, occupational, and behavioral therapists from Treehouse to be based out of a new clinic in the Warm Springs Early Childhood Education Center to reduce the barriers to accessing high quality care for children in Warm Springs.

This project is a collaboration between researches at Oregon State University-Cascades, St. Charles Health System's Nutrition and Diabetes Manager, and the Central Oregon Health Council(COHC) to bring together multiple disciplines to address to address a longstanding issue in healthcare delivery that affects diabetic patients and patients at risk for malnutrition. Currently, the method of tracking nutritional intake in an inpatient setting is subjective, unreliable and gathered depending on the capacity of the care team. The researchers from OSU bring expertise from the fields of Computer Science, Food & Beverage, Business Administration, and Mechanical Engineering to enhance and test a prototype that uses image recognition technology, machine learning, artificial intelligence(AI), and cloud-computing resources to track and quantify nutritional intake in an in patient setting to provide an accurate data point for care teams to make proactive care decisions. The funding will toward comp

The Peaceful Presence is a non-profit that works to reimagine the way communities talk about, plan for and experience serious illness and the end-of-life. Evidence shows that the rate of advance care directive completion in the general population is around 30% of adults; in the unhoused and BIPOC populations it is even lower. This funding will support an initiative to improve proactive planning for serious illness and end-of-life care for maginalized, vulnerable and unhoused populations in Central Oregon. The organization envisions a community where every individual has the planning, support, and care to die where and how they prefer.

HEALING FAMILIES - POWERFUL INTERVENTIONS FOR MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES: JUNIPER MOUNTAIN COUNSELING (JMC) IS DEVELOPING A COMPREHENSIVE CHILD & FAMILY MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM TO COINCIDE WITH THE OPENING OF A NEW FACILITY (ESTIMATED FOR FALL 2022). IN ORDER TO MEET THIS GOAL, JMC IDENTIFIED THE NEED TO EXPAND TRAINING REQUIREMENTS FOR JMC'S CLINICIANS, AND MAKE STRATEGIC PURCHASES FOR AGE AND PROGRAM APPROPRIATE MATERIALS. FURTHER, JMC RECOGNIZES THAT CHILDREN DO NOT LIVE IN ISOLATION, AND THEREFORE JMC'S PROGRAM WILL FOCUS ON EMBRACING, SUPPORTING, AND HEALING THE WHOLE FAMILY WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION TO THE CONFIGURATION OR MEMBERS THAT MAKE UP A FAMILY UNIT.

Central Oregon's Perinatal Care Coordination(PCC) is a community-developed and public health-led program to assist pregnant and postpartum individuals in Central Oregon access health insurance, prenatal care, nutritional services, and other referrals with ease and dignity. The PCC program was developed by Deschutes County perinatal care coordinators and implemented in 2016 in response to Central Oregon's worsening maternal health and birth outcomes. The program now serves approximately 60% of all pregnant persons in Central Oregon, mostly low-income and vulnerable populations. In March 2021, Oregon Health Authorities Healthier Together featured PCC as a promising model and intervention for improving maternal health and birth outcomes across Oregon. This funding will help create a comprehensive handbook to assist other communities with establishing a similar program, as well as to establish an evaluation methodology to continuously measure the effects of the program.

HEALTH WITHIN REACH - DIABETES EDUCATION WITH ORAL HEALTH AND HEALTHY FOOD SUPPORTS FOR LOW-INCOME LATINX PATIENTS: WITH COHQA SUPPORT, VOLUNTEERS IN MEDICINE (VIM) WILL PILOT A DENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM FOR 12 PATIENTS WHO PARTICIPATE IN VIM'S DIABETES EDUCATION PROGRAM. PATIENTS WILL WORK WEEKLY WITH VIM'S TWO VOLUNTEER CERTIFIED DIABETES EDUCATORS AND/OR VIM'S STAFF RN DIABETES CARE COORDINATOR. PATIENTS WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A $25 GROCERY GIFT CARD FOR EACH WEEK THEY PARTICIPATE IN DIABETES EDUCATION, AND THEY WILL BE ELIGIBLE TO BEGIN DENTAL GREATMENT AFTER FOUR WEEKS.

A PILOT OF VIRTUAL CARE TO CONNECT PROVIDERS AND PATIENTS IN UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES WITH DERMATOLOGY SPECIALISTS: SERVING OVER 29 MILLION PATIENTS ANNUALLY, COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS (CHCS) COMPRISE THE US'S CORE HEALTH-SAFETY NET PARTICULARLY IN RURAL AREAS WHERE THEY SERVE ONE IN FIVE RESIDENTS. HOWEVER, ACCESS TO SPECIALTY CARE SUCH AS DERMATOLOGY FOR CHC PATIENTS IS A CHALLENGE THAT HAS ONLY BEEN EXACERBATED BY THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. CURRENTLY, OVER 40% OF US RESIDENTS LIVE IN AREAS UNDERSERVED BY DERMATOLOGISTS. YET, SKIN CANCER IS THE MOST COMMON CANCER IN THE US. INDEED, ESTIMATES ARE THAT ONE IN FIVE AMERICANS WILL DEVELOP SKIN CANCER IN THEIR LIFETIME.

COMPASSIONATE CARE IN CENTRAL OREGON: ADVANCED CARE PLANNING (ACP) CAN BE A POWERFUL TOOL IN HELPING COMMUNITIES TO ACHIEVE IMPROVED HEALTH OUTCOMES. OVER THE PAST YEAR, THE PEACEFUL PRESENCE PROJECT HAS DEVELOPED STRONG PARTNERSHIPS WITH REGIONAL SERVICE PROVIDERS TO HELP SERVE THE UNHOUSED AND VULNERABLY-HOUSED IN DESCHUTES COUNTY WITH DIGNITY-PRESERVING END-OF-LIFE CARE. NOW THAT THIS NETWORK IS IN PLACE, OUR GOAL IS TO BEGIN TO SUSTAIN AND EXPAND ASPECTS OF THIS CARE, WITH A CONTINUED FOCUS ON ACP. FUNDING WILL SUPPORT A ROBUST ACP PROGRAM IN DESCHUTES COUNTY, AS WELL AS AN EXPANSION TO CROOK COUNTY, JEFFERSON COUNTY, AND WARM SPRINGS.

The SHIELD works to eliminate barriers to accessing mental health services for veterans. Their process consists of a network of trauma-informed, culturally competent mental health providers ready to offer an appointment to veterans within 5 days. As a trusted, collaborative community resource that receives referrals from partners like the Central Oregon Veterans Council, Central Oregon Suicide Prevention Alliance, St. Charles, and Central Oregon Veteran's Ranch, we are pleased our funding will offer our veterans 100 hours of free counseling through THE SHIELD.

CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT TO ENHANCE ENGAGEMENT AND EFFICACY OF MEDICAL SUPPORTED RECOVERY (MSR) TREATMENT: CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT REFERS TO A TYPE OF BEHAVIORAL THERAPY THAT REWARDS POSITIVE BEHAVIORAL CHANGE AND INCREASES MOTIVATION TO ENGAGE IN TREATMENT, ATTEND SUD COUNSELING, AND DECREASE THE USE OF ILLICIT SUBSTANCES. IN ADDTITION, CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT MOTIVATES PATIENTS TO AVOID MISSED OR DELAY VIVITROL INJECTIONS AND THUS REDUCE RATES OF RETURN-TO-HEAVY ALCOHOL USE OR HIGH-RISK USE OF OPIODS. FINALLY, SUD COUNSELING IS UNDERUTILIZED IN TREATMENT AND PROVIDING POSITIVE REWARD FOR ENGAGEMENT WILL IMPROVE OVERALL RETENTION IN TREATMENT AND RECOVERY RATES.

TELE-BEHAVIORAL HEALTH PROJECT: THIS PROJECT WILL ENABLE LAPINE COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER (LCHC) TO MEET THE INCREASING DEMAND FOR BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES, ENABLE LCHC'S BEHAVIORAL HEALTH PATIENTS TO HAVE GREATER ACCESS TO SERVICES AND PROVIDE A WAY TO FACILITATE PATIENT CONTINUITY OF CARE.

Pilot a Latinx-youth outdoor program for underserved community.

TREEHOUSE THERAPIES (TTA) PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM: LIKE SO MANY HEALTH CARE ORGANIZATIONS, TTA IS EXPERIENCING SIGNIFICANT BURNOUT, STRESS , AND OVERWHELM AMONG PROVIDERS DURING, AND FOLLOWING, THE WORLD WIDE PANDEMIC. TTA FEELS THERE IS AN URGENT AND UNEXPECTED NEED TO ADDRESS BURNOUT IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN AND IMPROVE QUALITY OF CARE, TO REDUCE COSTS, AND TO IMPROVE TTA'S PATIENT PROVIDER AND STAFF EXPERIENCE. TTA HAS IDENTIFIED A LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM, BY THE ARBINGER INSTITUTE, THAT WE BELIEVE WOULD BE TREMENDOUSLY HELPFUL FOR OUR NEW MANAGEMENT TEAM AND THE ENTIRE TTA STAFF.

THE SHIELD'S VETERAN COUNSELING PROJECT REMOVES BARRIERS TO ACCESSING MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FOR LOCAL VETERANS BY ENGAGING IN ADVOCACY AND PROVIDING FREE AND CONFIDENTIAL SPECIALIZED MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELING. THE SHIELD PROVIDES MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES TO VETERANS WHO OTHERWISE WOULD NOT RECEIVE SERVICES AND NOT ENGAGE IN COUNSELING.