Housing and Health Care: Listening to the Underserved and Strengthening the Connections
By Gretchen Hammer, Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved, and Susan Downs-Karkos, Consultant for Mercy Housing
“The greatest compliment that was ever paid to me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.” – Henry David Thoreau
National research and practice increasingly demonstrate the critical connection between stable housing and improved health. However, housing and health care too often operate as distinct fields, rarely recognizing their intertwined relationship. Mercy Housing and the Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved (CCMU) are partnering to bring together stakeholders across both sectors to explore housing as a platform for addressing health needs and prioritizing ways the two fields can work together to improve health outcomes.
The collaboration between CCMU and Mercy Housing began by chance. One day a Mercy Housing resident named Lawrence was standing outside of Mercy’s Aromor Apartments and struck up a conversation with a passerby. The passerby was Marc Reece of the Colorado Association of Health Plans, who was on his way to the State Capitol to discuss health care policy. Lawrence was intrigued and asked if Marc might return later and help his neighbors better understand the health care changes that lay ahead. Marc agreed, and invited Gretchen Hammer of CCMU to come along and help facilitate a health care conversation with the Aromor residents.
When the residents of the Aromor came to learn more about health care policy from Marc and Gretchen, they packed the house. The questions they asked and the experiences they shared proved this was a savvy group, one with first-hand experience of the health care system’s shortcomings. Following the conversation, staff from both Mercy Housing and CCMU recognized they needed to continue to work together – not only to lift up the voices of the medically underserved like those in Mercy Housing properties, but to show the housing and health care sectors how powerful their collaboration could be to improve the lives of vulnerable families.
Thanks to a Convening for Colorado grant from The Colorado Trust, what started as a conversation at one Mercy Housing property spread across the city, as Mercy Housing and CCMU ventured out on a listening tour (which was truly all about listening) to hear from residents from many different walks of life about their own health care experiences.
Here is a snapshot of what we heard:
- Adults have a much more difficult time seeking care for themselves than for their children.
- Cost remains a significant barrier to good health.
- Living in poverty is itself a health issue.
- Taking responsibility for one’s own health is important, but there are barriers to eating well and exercise.
Residents also had a number of suggestions for improving health. These included:
- Use housing as a platform to deliver health services.
- Improve access to health care for adults, including dental, vision and behavioral health care.
- Increase access to healthy foods, exercise and education.
- Commit to compassion and decency by improving customer service in health care.
Health in Residence is a full report on the themes and recommendations from the listening tour.
Looking Forward to the Future
In March 2013, CCMU and Mercy Housing convened nearly 30 key experts from the housing and health care fields to learn from the listening tour and to consider areas for future collaboration. CCMU and Mercy are continuing the conversation on May 30, bringing in national experts to share models and inspiration for connecting housing and health in Colorado.
Susan Downs-Karkos, Consultant, Mercy Housing
