Collaboration

Sentara serves as the anchor of numerous community groups who collaborate to address housing needs in Virginia and beyond. They have brought together city agencies, community service boards, developers and non-profits as well as residents from the neighborhoods where various housing project support and improvements occur. One example of their initiatives includes an investment of $11 million in a multi-year effort to revitalize a Newport News (Virginia) community by replacing one of the city’s oldest public housing developments with a mixed-income neighborhood that provides resources including early child development services and workforce training. The affordable housing project is the result of a partnership involving public and private investors. This project and their other efforts have led to decreased emergency room visits and 911 calls, and inspired collaboration across multiple organizations that support the needs of those in need of housing support.

The National Kidney Foundation’s Ending Disparities in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Leadership Summits in Missouri and Virginia engaged stakeholders from various backgrounds to solve complex challenging social problems. Over 225 people attended the Missouri and Virginia Leadership Summits, including primary care providers, nephrologists, primary care associations, pharmacists, state hospital associations, quality improvement organizations, health system leadership, Medicaid and Medicare plan leadership, employer health coalitions, faith-based organizations, health and human service resource organizations, departments of health, state law makers and policy and academic leaders. In Virginia, an estimated 3.8 million people, including 859,000 at risk for CKD and just under 430,000 people with CKD were impacted by these initiatives. In Missouri, just under 4.5 million people were impacted by this work, including 1 million adults who are at risk for CKD and 500,000 people estimated with CKD.

Citizens Memorial Hospital tapped into the expertise and influence of its Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) to implement a waiting room attendant/concierge in the Emergency Department. The council consists of eight community members and four hospital employees who share perspectives on how healthcare services are delivered through their own experiences or those of their family. With the PFAC’s findings, the hospital CEO recommended creating an emergency department waiting room attendant/concierge position to facilitate communication about wait time, status of family members being treated, and address patient needs such as blankets, water and nutrition. The move improved the hospital’s survey response score for communication about wait time from 33.2% to 40.8% in a span of six months.