Definition and Purpose
We define Healthy Villages® as the purposeful aggregation of partners, tenants and funders, which in the whole are improving the health status and lowering the medical and social services costs of the populations served while contributing to economic development and neighborhood revitalization. In our 24-year history, we have been engaged in over 85 cities and towns working in challenged neighborhoods on Healthy Village® transformations. The Healthy Villages® model is designed to replace the growing obsolete - from both a financial and outcome standpoint - traditional safety net hospital. The partners are typically organized according to the Social Determinants of Health (“SDOH”): 1) Economic Stability (e.g. meaningful jobs and careers); 2) Safe Neighborhoods (e.g. housing, transportation, parks, retail services; 3) Education (from literacy to higher education and everything in-between); 4) Food (including good nutrition) 5) Social Support (e.g. childcare, adult daycare) 6) Healthcare (post-acute care such as behavioral health and skilled nursing, primary care, care management and access to quality specialty care when needed).
scale
Healthy Villages can be designed in varying scales ranging from small (e.g. individual neighborhoods which combine primary/care management with Low Income Housing Tax Credits scattered site development) to large, (e.g. central city/town plans). Our usual assignment is developing a Healthy Village plan for a soon-to-be obsolete safety-net hospital property which also have varying scales ranging from less than a hundred thousand to over one million square feet.