Indianapolis, IN – Connections IN Health is excited to announce that they are joining several organizations around Indiana in a statewide initiative to ensure better access to health resources to Hoosiers. The two-year project, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and titled I-HOPE (Indiana Healthy Opportunities for Everyone Initiative), will involve teams across the state engaging in community-level conversations that will help to develop strategies to address the social determinants of health that are keeping people from living the healthiest lives possible. Connections IN Health will share their successful model of county engagement, partnering with the I-HOPE teams to engage in Lake and Madison counties throughout 2022.
Connections IN Health will focus on chronic disease areas that align with their initiatives including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, asthma, cancer, healthy equity, physical activity, food insecurity, and nutrition. In addition to addressing chronic disease, food insecurity, opioids, obesity, smoking, and other Indiana health challenges exacerbated by pandemic-related isolation and treatment delays, I-HOPE partners will address factors that make it difficult for people to get and stay healthy such as limited access to healthcare, affordable housing, transportation, childcare, and safe and secure employment.
The I-HOPE project will collaborate with its statewide partners as well as the 30 Indiana counties that have been most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. They will support stakeholders with innovative tools to build collaboration, hear the voice of the community, and guide participants to action. To learn more about I-HOPE, please visit their website.
Connections IN Health is a project within Indiana University School of Medicine and the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute that strives to improve the health outcomes across Indiana by working with health coalitions and sharing evidence-based interactions. The team will be conducting listening sessions with individuals and organizations who are connected to the following Gary zip codes and neighborhoods: Downtown, Emerson, Tolleston, Midtown, and West Side, including these zip codes: 46402, 46404, 46406, and 46407. If you are connected to these areas and would like to share your perspective, please complete the interest survey or contact Karen Hinshaw, Associate Program Director for Connections IN Health at kdhinsha@iu.edu.
