What's New at CCI? The transformative power of Project 100

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Welcome to the story of Project 100, an extraordinary collaboration that aims to give the approximately 100 babies born yearly in a low-income community in northern California their best chance at a healthy life.

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Project 100: Seeking Equity for the 100+ Babies Born Yearly in California's Lower Russian River Community

Ellen Bauer remembers her feeling of exhilaration when she first imagined the idea for Project 100.

The former public health director of Sonoma County, Ellen Bauer joined West County Health Centers in 2020 as its chief administrative officer. Concerned about the problems that the clinic’s low-income families faced, she was interested in taking a public health approach to give the 100 or so babies born each year in the lower Russian River area – one of the poorest parts of the county -- their best chance at a healthy and joyful life.

The name Project 100 spoke to her, she said, because it seemed like a concrete way to keep a laser focus on prevention and healthy early childhood development for those 100 babies -- one of the most effective ways to transform the long-term health of a community.

The project seeks "to level the playing field for all babies in the area,” Bauer said. “When I came to West County Health Centers, I wanted to continue my work with community partnerships, to focus on prevention and work ‘upstream’ to create healthy environments for babies and children in the lower Russian River area.”

“Upstream,” in this case, meant involving the lower Russian River community in a?Self-Healing Communities ?model, often described as one in which a culture of illness turns from conflict and despair into a culture of healing by involving community members as agents of change. The question for the community in Project 100 was, what did those 100 babies need to live their best lives?

“We thought this is something that is incredibly important but small enough that we can wrap our arms around it,” said Bauer.????????????????????????? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?????????????????????

Jason Cunningham , the chief executive officer of West County Health Centers, agrees. He has worked there for more than 20 years and has served as the health center's CEO since early 2020, although he also continues to see patients as a physician (“It’s always my favorite part of the job.”). In Project 100, Cunningham is excited to use the human-centered design and systems thinking tools he and his staff learned in programs with the Center for Care Innovations, he says, to help make equity a reality in an area suffering from floods and wildfires, intergenerational poverty, lack of jobs, addiction, social isolation, and untreated mental illness and homelessness.

“The training we received through those CCI programs really set the stage for Project 100,” he said. “We feel like community health centers are uniquely positioned to help solve some of the wicked problems – the seemingly intractable problems – that are plaguing this area. But we have to work collaboratively with the community, because we can only do this together. We want to use human-centered design and systems thinking to help us learn and tap into community wisdom.”

Although West County Health is not the health care provider for all the approximately 100 babies born in the lower Russian River area each year, said Bauer, “We asked ourselves, how can we support collective action to make sure that all 100 get what they need?”

To help answer that question, in the last half of 2023 the three convening organizations in Project 100 –?West County Health Centers ,?River to Coast Children’s Services , and the Guerneville School District ?– invited people from all sectors of the community to contribute their experience. And over the last year they’ve worked on a systems mapping project to help them figure out the barriers to care and brainstorm solutions.?Read our story to find out more about Project 100 and its remarkable work!

? In Case You Missed Them: Stories About a Powerhouse Russian River Health Center

West County Health Centers ?has long been at the forefront of innovation and equity in health care, as well as using geo-mapping and trauma-informed care to support its patients and staff through natural disasters linked to climate change. Here is a look at some of its inspiring work:

1. In this CCI Health Pilots podcast, Jason Cunningham of West County Health Centers?(WCHC) and Jeff Glenn of Neighborhood Healthcare discuss?how they?helped?their leadership and providers align to make equitable video visits a priority .
2. West County Health Centers?developed a remarkable?geo-mapping tool ?to get input from homeless residents on what they most needed ?to improve their lives and health?in encampments?along the lower Russian River area — a tool the center also used to?locate and rescue homeless residents stranded along the river?during a?massive flood in Guerneville .??
3. The West County health hub was a leader ?in rolling out audio and video health care visit during the pandemic?and continues to expand its offerings.
4. West County was an?early adopter of innovative data analytics tools ,?putting their health care data into the hands of their frontline staff in the form of?customized data dashboards.
5. West County Health?is a key member of?CCI's five-year-old Resilient Beginnings network,?which focuses on trauma-informed care and practices.?Read about how this training?helped the health center through a series of natural disasters .
6. As California grapples with soaring temperatures and scattered fires?this summer, read about some of the?unsung?health care heroes of our wildfires ,?including those in the West County Health Centers and other clinics.

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?? READING:?Are You a Workaholic — or a Hard Worker? Why It Matters for Your Health .?The Washington Post?helps you figure that out. Hint: If you work hard because you love your job, you're unlikely to be a workaholic.

?? WATCHING:?The Long-Term Care Crisis: Why Few Can Afford to Grow Old in America . Any of us who have cared for our beloved parents with Alzheimer's or another devastating disease can relate to the series "Dying Broke," a joint investigation between?KFF Health News?and?The New York Times?-- and the rest can get an eye-opening look at what's in store.

?? LISTENING:?The Other 80: Revisiting CalAIM with Dr. Palav Babaria . "The scope, scale and timeline of what California is trying to do with CalAIM is truly breathtaking." Babaria — who leads quality and population health management for Medi-Cal — looks at the first two years of this?ambitious program, which offers integrated medical and social care for the state's 15 million Medicaid members.

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