Community Health
The vision of CHRISTUS Health, a Catholic, faith-based ministry, is to be a leader and advocate in creating exemplary health care services, processes and structures that improve the health of individuals and of local and global communities so all may experience God's healing presence and love. The CHRISTUS Health Department of Community Health focuses on improving the health of communities.
Community health, as a discipline within public health, concerns itself with the study and betterment of the health characteristics of communities. Community Health tends to look at the needs of populations; community health services are designed to keep people well, help them manage a chronic illness, and improve health in our communities.
As a major health care system, we at CHRISTUS Health are well aware of the consequences that the lack of health coverage has for both the uninsured and the communities we serve. We know from first-hand experience that people without health insurance are more likely to delay or entirely forego preventive and primary care services. Delayed or deferred preventative care often leads to avoidable emergency room visits, hospitalization, disability and economic hardship. CHRISTUS Health bears an enormous financial burden in providing care to the uninsured.
The CHRISTUS Health Commitment to the Communities it serves
CHRISTUS Health is deeply committed to proactively improving the health of individuals and communities and particularly the large numbers of uninsured and underinsured people. Therefore, Community Health today focuses on addressing the need for access to health services in addition to assuring health improvement through health promotion and disease prevention.
Evidence from hundreds of communities around the country demonstrates the effectiveness of engaging the entire community in efforts to expand access to health care. Therefore, CHRISTUS strives to collaborate with community partners. By working with and/or initiating community-led partnerships in all the communities served by CHRISTUS Health, we can achieve measurable, sustainable improvement in well-being.
CHRISTUS Health's Healthy Communities Model incorporates
these key principles:
- Community Ownership:
Successful initiatives bring together business, government, nonprofit, healthcare, faith communities and citizen leaders to address community issues. Everyone should feel empowered.
- Well-being of the Community:
The universal definition of health and wholeness embraces the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual dimensions of life.
- Goals and Measures:
Use benchmarks and measure progress and outcomes.
- Partnerships and Collaborations:
Building capacity using the already existing community assets helps to magnify the resources available.
CHRISTUS Fund
CHRISTUS Socially Responsible Investment Program
Community Benefit Annual Report
CORONA VIRUS ASSESSMENT TOOL