Public Health Institute

The stories we tell shape how people understand health, equity, and their communities. 'Crafting a Health Equity Centered Narrative,' a new factsheet from PHI's Build Healthy Places Network, highlights the importance of participatory storytelling, shared values, and asset-based approaches in shaping narratives that foster trust and belonging. The guide provides actionable strategies to help organizations shift harmful narratives, amplify community voices, and bridge divides across sectors. Explore strategies to create more inclusive, equity-driven narratives that bolster belonging, health and equity: https://lnkd.in/guAPbCEd

In 2023, PHI’s Dr. Sarah E. Zemore, senior scientist at PHI’s Alcohol Research Group (ARG), co-authored the study, "Understanding the Shared Meaning of Recovery from Substance Use Disorders: New Findings from the What is Recovery." The study offers unique insights about what sustains a healthy addiction-free life. Dr. Zemore recently joined the Addiction Medicine Journal Club podcast to discuss this research and explore?the multifaceted definition of recovery from substance use disorders, emphasizing how there is no?common definition. She also discusses why?a definition is needed to know the desired treatment outcome. Listen to the full episode:

Join PHI’s Tracking California for a webinar on Wednesday, March 26 as they share updates about the Climate Health Adaptation and Resilience Mobilization in Lake County (CHARM) project, a Tribal-led collaborative effort to strengthen Lake County's response to extreme heat and harmful algal blooms (HABs). Presenters will provide an overview of CHARM's work, including insights from a Tribal-led cross-sector tabletop exercise simulating an extreme heat event, key findings from community data collection on climate health impacts, as well as project reflections, lessons learned?and challenges. This webinar will also share how Tribes, county agencies, and community organizations in a rural county collaborated to assess and plan for climate resilience.

Looking for tools you can use to support more strategic collaboration and improve community health systems, advance equity and sustain collaborative outcomes? PHI's Population Health Innovation Lab is hosting a 2-day in-person workshop this June in Denver, CO to help you transform expertise into action, provide access to proven resources and support long-term collaborative success. Learn more about the workshop, read feedback from workshop alumni, and register now for early bird pricing: https://lnkd.in/ghchaYnv

New research from the California Department of Public Health and the University of California, San Francisco describes the innovative use of the PHI Healthy Places Index--a data and policy tool developed by PHI's Public Health Alliance of Southern California--to address COVID-19 health disparities during the initial 18 months of the pandemic. Using HPI's measurement of 25 key social determinants helped state officials identify the hardest-hit communities--some of which saw both cases and deaths from the pandemic at a rate six and five times higher, respectively, than the most advantaged communities in the state. By accounting for the disproportionate burden of COVID-19 on these communities in the state's response, these disparities narrowed in the first 18 months of the pandemic.?

During wildfires and extreme heat events, low-income families in dry regions must resort to evaporative coolers (ECs) that pull unfiltered outdoor air into the home, creating a health hazard to occupants. A new study co-written by PHI's Tracking California and published in Frontiers in Public Health explores how to protect low-income communities from wildfire smoke pollution. The Filtration for Respiratory Exposure to wildfire Smoke from Swamp Cooler Air (FRESSCA) study was an air quality experimental intervention study conducted in California’s San Joaquin Valley in homes of Spanish-speaking agricultural workers. Among the findings: while temporary filtration solutions are feasible to reduce indoor wildfire smoke exposure through ECs, more permanent solutions would require prioritizing homes with ECs in wildfire smoke-exposed regions for replacement with heat pump technology or air conditioning.?

Today at noon PT, don't miss this webinar with PHI's Bridge on making access to substance use disorder treatment--specifically, medication for addiction treatment--easier to access through emergency departments. The conversation will dive into the details of what low-barrier access actually means, including a quick start on the basics of telehealth as an expansion of substance use disorder care. Register: https://lnkd.in/g7uD8s2p

We're Hiring | New Resources: Inclusive Communications Guides | Tribal-led Collaborative Strategies for Extreme Heat | Webinar: Building Narrative Power for Health -- all that and more, in our latest updates:

Join PHI, CA4Health and partners to celebrate ENACT Day, which brings together community leaders and partners from across California to connect, learn from each other, and collectively educate decision-makers about opportunities to create healthy, safe, and equitable communities for all Californians. At ENACT Day, community members, advocates, health experts and others come together to advance solutions that break down barriers to health, safety, opportunity, and build a future where all people—regardless of background—can access the resources they need. Register to join in Sacramento on Tuesday, April 22:?

New guides from PHI’s Center on Disability provide information and tools to help businesses, state and local governments, and nonprofits improve their written communication by using easy-to-understand language in public messaging. Part of the Inclusive Communication Project, these resources provide insight on the importance of plain language and offer practical guidance on putting it into practice--including tips to make written communication easier to understand, guidelines for writing for the web, and examples of how plain language can improve understanding.??