Northwest Health Foundation concentrates our funding on three specific areas of focus:
While much of our work is focused on these three areas, we also recognize the powerful relationship each has with the other. Focusing our work in this way is not meant to imply that these areas function in isolation. In fact, each of these domains must be strongly interconnected if we are to improve the health, and advance the common good, for all.
Public Health: The infrastructure that allows us all to thrive
Research has shown that medical care accounts for only about ten percent of our nation’s overall health status. The other ninety percent is largely due to the way in which we structure our society to create opportunities for health into our day-to-day lives.
Many of these factors can be addressed within our existing public health system, which is designed to protect us and improve our health and well-being. But when the benefits of our public health system are not fully understood by policymakers and the public, the result is an inadequate investment in the infrastructure needed to implement proven prevention strategies. Working in cooperation with nonprofit advocacy organizations and governmental public health, the Northwest Health Foundation is working to change that.
Community Health Priorities is our campaign to make public health a priority in Oregon. The Foundation serves as a credible, nonpartisan convener to foster these discussions both online and in person. In 2008 we launched the CHP website and blog, in partnership with the Oregon Public Health Division. We also help convene the Public Health Alignment Workgroup, representing twelve nonprofits, government agencies and advocacy groups to better coordinate the pursuit of public health priorities.
Community-based participatory research is another important funding program within the public health focus area. The CBPR approach is a growing trend in our field – and it’s ideally suited for building community support for public health issues.
We also focus on physical activity and nutrition. Our efforts in this area, however, are not about “making people” exercise or eat better. Funding in this area is intended to help shape the policies and environments that promote opportunities for active living and healthy eating. Research shows that simply disseminating facts as a stand-alone strategy does not change people’s conduct. As long as the environment – cheap junk food, neighborhoods unsafe or inconvenient to walk or bike through, etc. – remains “obesogenic,” efforts to steer people toward healthier lifestyles will continue to fail. We support community-driven efforts to change these environments in ways that make the healthy choice the easy choice.
Because significant health-influencing factors occur even outside the public health system, our donor-advised Kaiser Permanente Community Fund (KPCF) invests in projects and initiatives that address far-reaching social determinants of health. This fund focuses on issues as wide-ranging as poverty, racial and ethnic health disparities, community-building and affordable access to safe and healthy places to live, work, play and learn — all of which, believe it or not, can have a much more profound influence on our health than anything the medical system can provide.
Health Care Reform: Closing the fairness gap
The Northwest Health Foundation believes that access to health care should be a basic right of all people. In Oregon, approximately 600,000 people are currently uninsured.
Ultimately, we envision a fair health care system where people can go to the doctor when they need to — which is the norm throughout Europe, Canada, Japan, and many other nations.
The Foundation supports organizations that work to increase access to health care, both within the existing health care system and through a process of grassroots engagement in health reform policy change.
Northwest Health Foundation is working toward reform within the existing system by funding innovative models for delivering care. In 2009, we requested proposals from organizations making progress in implementing a “primary care home model,” which seeks to improve the way services are delivered by a team of providers, coordinated within the health care setting and with other services in the community—and perhaps nested within a local community health collaborative. Many entities throughout Oregon and southwest Washington are working to change their health care delivery models to meet this vision, which may be also called an “integrated health home,” or “medical home.”
The Northwest Health Foundation seeks to make a difference through responsive, competitive grant cycles, as well as through convening activities. These activities play a vital a role while consuming fewer grant dollars. In 2008 we brought together a number of health funders that were unaware of the primary care home model and connected these funders with groups that are currently implementing the primary care home model
Brilliant minds and tireless advocates already have devoted countless hours to the issue of health care access, and Northwest Health Foundation has funded several of them through our Health Advocacy and Reform program. Thanks to the groundwork these grassroots organizations have established, we remain cautiously optimistic that real progress can be made on this important issue of social justice and equity.
Health Workforce: Building the Workforce for the 21st Century
Philanthropy is uniquely able to focus on the future.
Unconstrained by state budgets, special interests, or meeting the needs of shareholders and customers, philanthropy can bridge the gap between problems and solutions. Grantmakers have an important role - and a clear responsibility – to spearhead creative solutions that address the complex future health needs of our society.
Currently, the healthcare workforce needs in our region provide a significant opportunity for investment and development. Building the present workforce to ensure future access to high quality health care in a rapidly changing healthcare system is the kind of challenge that Northwest Health Foundation is ready to meet.
We are committed to helping the healthcare professions and others develop strategies to ensure that our human resources reach their full potential. We are building on our past experience in supporting the nursing workforce in Oregon, in which our efforts led to many collaborations and investments resulting in a transformation of nursing education, development of nurses to lead healthcare reform, and an increase in the racial and ethnic diversity of the nurse workforce.
The Foundation supports the organizational development of organizations as well as investing in innovation in education, practice and leadership projects. We also work on policy issues that support the development of the healthcare workforce. In order to make progress on the workforce issue, we now work closely with policy-makers and other foundations in Oregon to meet the challenges we see ahead.
In addition to our local work, Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future (PIN) is a collaborative partnership between Northwest Health Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. PIN is a multi-year, multi-million dollar national investment in the America’s nursing workforce. The program supports the capacity, involvement and leadership of local foundations to advance the nursing profession in their own communities. Through PIN, local philanthropic foundations act as catalysts to develop and execute strategies needed to build a highly skilled nursing workforce by testing innovative ideas locally and share them nationally.