Why is public health important?

“Public health is essential to the protection and improvement of the health of people and their communities. Public health is focused on the health of the populations and therefore, creates an opportunity to impact a large number of people and affect change. Public health work encompasses the promotion of healthy lifestyles, prevention of health problems, conducting research, implementing programs, recommending policies and administering services. Another important public health role is to limit health disparities by promoting healthcare equity, quality, and accessibility.”

-- Betty Alonso, President & CEO of ConnectFamilias

What are the most crucial issues facing Miami-Dade from the perspective of your line of work?

“The ConnectFamilias (CF) is a community-based partnership whose mission is to build healthy communities where children and families thrive and succeed. Together with over 70+ cross-sector partners, we are working to build health equity for families in Miami-Dade. Through our collective work, we are able to co-design community solutions that address our community’s pressing health, educational and social concerns. These concerns include but are not limited to lack of access to behavioral/mental health services, social support/connections, low health literacy, poor family functioning, substance use, lack of coordination between healthcare providers and health inequities created by disparities in social determinants of health (i.e. low-income, food insecurity, low educational attainment, poor housing affordability and living conditions, lack of social support, and more). We work with families with multiple and complex needs, many of whom face barriers related to social and health inequity across various systems of care, that have disenfranchised them resulting in increased risk factors and challenges their ability to address their family’s health and wellbeing.”

-- Betty Alonso, President & CEO of ConnectFamilias

How can individuals or communities advocate for awareness and action around these issues?

“ConnectFamilias believes in the power of connection, collaboration, and empowerment. We are neighbors, parents, service providers, and business leaders who understand the importance of coming together to help children succeed. We encourage our families and our partners to advocate for the issues that are being brought to their attention. We hold regular partnership meetings to listen, understand and develop action-oriented steps towards addressing issues that our community and families are facing. By remaining connected and aware of our families’ and community needs, we are able to provide a comprehensive menu of services, including early childhood screening, health literacy training, adult learning courses, and other parent engagement activities, as well as leverage our partnership by hosting partners to increase accessibility such as art workshops, mental health/substance abuse counseling/support groups. 

By coming together, we can advocate and promote action steps towards improving and overcoming public health issues. ConnectFamilias developed and implemented a comprehensive intervention model led by trained community health workers (CHWs) who provide care coordination and programming to build health equity by addressing social determinants. Our partnership works with diverse partners to address the individualized and community needs through ongoing collaborative programming to create sustainable access points, opportunities, and resources as we build a culture of health. As a result of this direct work with individuals, we have been successful at engaging diverse service providers in a fundamental way to develop individual and community solutions and increase social capital. 

Being that our work is centered around families and children, we would like to offer insight into the Tuesday theme of Maternal and Child Health. One of our programs, Healthy Mommy, Happy Baby (HMHB), impacts mothers and children early on in the life course, directly targeting pregnant mothers or mothers with infants. The HMHB program aims to address the growing need of low-income moms unable to access regular pre/post-natal care. The goal is to promote healthy family outcomes through health literacy and linkage to services in order to ensure a successful pregnancy and healthy infant. HMHB is a comprehensive approach modeled after The Best Baby Zones addressing health, economic and social needs to promote healthy birth weight. HMHB provides workshops designed to reinforce the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle during and post-pregnancy while addressing health needs for both moms and babies. HMHB workshops cover an array of topics including, prenatal & postpartum care, infant safety, breastfeeding, and healthy nutrition. Families are provided with a wraparound team to support their educational and social needs. Linkage to care is also provided as needed as part of a larger continuum of care from prenatal to postpartum within the community. Additionally, mothers and families receive information on available resources (i.e. health insurance, WIC, etc.), early developmental screening for babies/siblings’ services, participation in community baby showers and gift bags filled with essential items. The HMHB program is unique in that it places the family at the center and emphasizes the medical visits of the mom while also creating a supportive community.”

Our program has a culturally-competent design to address the needs of low-income Hispanic women in the community. Our goal is to generate better health outcomes by ensuring that expectant mothers and/or mothers of newborns learn how to make healthy choices, while also removing some of the barriers that prevent them from accessing necessary pre- and post-natal care. Having this program available in Little Havana and surrounding neighborhoods is extremely important since these are some of the most underserved areas in the City of Miami. HMHB program success and impact is already evident to both new moms and our partner network, who see the value of strengthening the continuum of care to promote healthy behaviors, early learning and nurturing parenting. Improving access to prenatal care and expanding healthcare access over the life course is essential to promoting positive future health trajectories of the mother and their children."

-- Betty Alonso, President & CEO of ConnectFamilias