Bridges makes a forever difference in helping people transition out of poverty and into health. It goes from generation to generation.

The costs of health and healthcare are increasing annually in the United States, and the government is stalled on a solution. Healthcare costs are at an all-time high, and across the country, hospitals in small towns, thriving cities, and rural areas have similar problems.

Can hospitals survive the fiscal challenges while offering the best healthcare opportunities for everyone in their community, regardless of education and socioeconomic status? Can communities and legislative groups create environments and policies that reduce population health disparities?

Bridges to Health and Healthcare uses Bridges Out of Poverty concepts to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be an underserved American. It offers up prototypes for successful healthcare initiatives with breakthrough approaches that improve access and services for all.

“Bridges makes a forever difference for people transitioning out of poverty and into health.”

Tweet: Bridges makes a forever difference for people transitioning out of poverty and into health. -T. Dreussi-Smith, https://ctt.ec/7QbhJ+

Health and healthcare providers now have to find ways to fund their own survival. To do that requires a new way of thinking about and serving patients across economic classes. In our work, Bridges practitioners focus on the daily reality of generational poverty—minimally understood by most institutions and practitioners. This issue has huge consequences for patient care and serving the underserved. It also affects hospital accountability in meeting federal standards and has a major impact on an institution’s bottom line.

 

 

Terie Dreuessi-Smith has been an author/consultant with aha! Process since 1997 and is experienced in bringing diverse audiences to new understandings and paradigms with practical knowledge, humor, and sincerity. Terie has years of both direct and midlevel management experience working with youth and adults in poverty. Her areas of expertise are health and wellness initiatives, K–12 education, higher education, alcohol and other drug prevention, community youth development, and community wellness. She lives in Greenville, South Carolina. Click to learn more about Terie Dreussi-Smith.