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(623) 400-5881(623) 400-5881
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intake@wvhealthequity.comintake@wvhealthequity.com
About Us
Our Framework
Equity: Everyone deserves a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible, regardless of their race, ethnicity, preferred language, gender, sexual identity, age, disability status, religion, employment, income, migrant status, and other factors.
Access to care is inextricably linked to equity—if everyone is to have a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible, access to high quality and safe healthcare is essential. Enrolling patients in coverage annually has saved lives, reduced health care costs, narrowed racial disparities, and provided peace of mind to those who would otherwise have been uninsured. However, access is not limited to coverage for healthcare services. It includes ensuring that healthcare services are available and affordable to everyone independent of who they are, where they live, or their insurance status.
Provide Whole-Person Care to Achieve Health Equity
- Actively promote and facilitate access to care for all in ways that accommodate diverse life circumstances and needs.
- Establish and sustain a trusting environment where everyone feels they are welcomed and treated with dignity and respect.
- Provide whole-person, effective, high-quality care responsive to plans co-created with individuals, families, and caregivers.
- Engage with organizations and community residents, prioritizing those most affected by inequities.
- Build trusting relationships with individuals and organizations in the community.
- Respect and build on the expertise and power of individuals and organizations in the community.
- Use healthcare’s voice to shape public understanding about the importance of health equity and dismantling racism and all forms of discrimination
- Use investments to contribute to the health and resilience of communities.
Our focus maternal health and birth justice
The U.S. is one of the most dangerous high-income countries in which to give birth - especially for people of color. Maternal morbidity and mortality rates in the United States are unacceptably high, reflect stark racial and other inequities, and are largely preventable. Immediate action is needed to achieve optimal maternal health. Optimal maternal health is rooted in good health status prior to pregnancy, anchored in healthy communities and healthy families, and enabled by health-supporting structures, policies, programs, and practices.
Optimal maternal health encompasses the health and well-being of a birthing person and infant. It involves physical, mental, and social well-being and applies before, during, and after childbearing. Optimal maternal health involves honoring and respecting the cultural practices, beliefs and traditions of individuals, families, and communities and meets the social needs that include, but are not limited to, economic security; safe workplaces, neighborhoods, and homes; nourishing food; accessible and reliable
transportation; strong social networks; and quality education, including health literacy. Optimal maternal health requires the elimination of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which often lead to lifelong trauma of childbearing people and parents. Pathways to prevent ACEs can include improving the conditions and environments that reach back to before a person is born, including the impact of intergenerational trauma and historical policy decisions that either suppressed or denied opportunities to live a healthy life.
