Health Equity Toolkit | Providing a Training Session for the North West Prevention Technology and Transfer Center
In August of 2019, OMNI created the Health Equity Toolkit for Rural and Remote Communities to support public health departments and other health-related organizations to expand their internal capacity and institutionalize equity in their work with a special focus on the community context. Over the last year, COVID-19 has laid bare the inequities of our health systems and increased the urgency for all communities to improve their internal equity practices Throughout this pandemic we’ve been fortunate to work with many amazing organizations across Colorado and the western U.S. as they navigate not only the Toolkit curriculum, but the inequities in their organizations, and the devastating effects of COVID-19.
In September and October of 2020, OMNI was contracted by the North West Prevention Technology and Transfer Center (NWPTTC), covering Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, to provide a two-part training series on health equity as it relates to the public health and substance use disorder field. The NW PTTC is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) federal agency and serves as a primary training and technical assistance (TTA) resource to the states listed above by leveraging the knowledge of prevention science with the application of community capacity-building, workforce development, and expertise in knowledge transfer mechanisms.
The first training session was an introductory session on health equity and how it integrates into public health and substance use disorder prevention. In this training, we look at equity in the field of prevention. We define health equity and make connections to its relationship to racial inequity and justice while integrating these concepts into the shared risk and protective factors theory and the social determinants of health. We move beyond just “checking boxes” for equity and instead push to more fully understand the need for an embodied equity practice—a practice that centers a racial justice perspective—to truly have an impact on health inequities.
The second session focused on resources and readiness to implement health equity practices by providing an overview of OMNI’s Health Equity Toolkit for Rural and Remote Communities. In this second session we explored the purpose of the toolkit, while providing an overview of the content and approach. We also engaged in an experience-activity from the Toolkit so everyone could experience what this work looks like concretely. Finally, we walked through a readiness assessment to help participants determine their organization’s readiness to embark on the guided journey the Toolkit offers for health equity practices.
Both of these sessions are available for free on the NWPTTC website, and can be accessed here
We appreciated the opportunity the NWPTTC gave us to further disseminate OMNI’s Health Equity Toolkit. We hope more agencies and organizations that are ready to tackle this important work will contact us so we can support them utilizing this user-friendly, comprehensive resource for improved internal equity practices.
OMNI’s Health Equity Toolkit for Rural and Remote Communities can be accessed here.