SEAHEC Recognized for Inspiring Rural Health Program
On Thursday Aug 1, 2019 the Arizona Rural Health Association recognized SEAHEC’s Healthy Farms Program for our work with the Winchester Heights community. SEAHEC Executive Director Gail Emrick accepted the award at the Arizona Rural Health Conference in Flagstaff. The Inspiring Rural Health Program award “recognizes a program within a community, at the local or state level, that involves one or more health professionals or entities, and promotes or facilitates the development of rural health delivery systems.” Our strategy for rural health delivery is unique and scalable. It leverages public health issues to develop infrastructure needed to jumpstart economic development in rural communities. Our approach differs significantly from previous attempts at development in Winchester Heights, which depended on one or two charismatic people to direct activities and get work done. Winchester Heights has now overcome two critical barriers to sustained development that held back previous efforts at community improvement: Lack of a central meeting space and lack of ongoing recruitment and training of a core group of community leaders. SEAHEC has developed a community health worker driven development model that can be adapted by other rural border communities. Public health outcomes are closely linked to infrastructure. People who live in… Continue reading
