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- Page navigation anchor for Casting a vision for long-term community engagementCasting a vision for long-term community engagement
In their commentary, Prasad, Wesby, and Crichlow posit, “Engaging directly with communities is one of the most effective ways to address social, structural, and political determinants of health. It should be the mainstay of the practice of family medicine, not a cute side-project” (1). We concur. The Chronic Care Model (CCM), which frames our work addressing racial disparities in diabetes care, establishes the critical role of community within its framework for understanding the system, relational, and individuals factors that influence patient outcomes (2). Community engagement enables more productive interactions with the patient as the team is able to contextualize the patient’s healthcare needs and resources within the community. Peek and colleagues argue that for the health system and community to fully integrate, the system cannot be “merely referring patients to existing community resources;” instead, clinical team members need to “actively collaborate” with community partners (3). We encourage clinicians to establish strong ties to the communities we serve. Our goal is to develop sustainable relationships within the community that move beyond the focus of a single condition and mature into long-term partnerships that address a range of factors that affect health. Community-engaged clinicians have a nuanced understanding of the patients and communities they serve. Engagement enables clinicians to observe firsthand the context of community factors such as food in...
Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared.