The result of wrapping our brains around the way the legislative issues of our state and our nation are “deep amid trying to tackle”, will lead to an understanding and acceptance of some deep rooted social justice issues and the reality that these issues must be openly talked about, without judgment and/or fear.   As TBHC celebrates our 15^th Anniversary this year, you will notice that we are taking our responsibility to be responsive to our members and address relevant current health care related issues in the Tampa Bay area very seriously.  Some of the discussions will not be easy, but they are clearly necessary.   Please plan to join us for upcoming events designed to educate on (1) the outcomes of the legislative session and (2) the implications of the legislative process and the health of us as individuals and as a collective group of citizens.   See details about the TBHC Legislative Wrap-Up on April 24^th and our Annual Membership & Quarterly Meeting on May 10^th.

Peace and Love,

Lori

The post Bringing Solutions to our Doorsteps: Where Do We Go From Here? appeared first on Tampa Bay Healthcare Collaborative.

He has committed his life to being a public servant. He served as a US Senator (Delaware) for 36 years and was the 47th Vice President of the US for 8 years. If you did the quick math, you’ll realize that’s a total of 44 years (longer than I’ve been alive).  At the age of 75, Joe Biden has been a public servant more than half his life. I cannot imagine living my life in the public eye for that long.  Striving to do what is right while being heavily scrutinized is no small feat.

I, like many people I imagine, waited with baited breathe in 2015, hopeful that then Vice President Biden would announce plans to seek the presidency in 2016. I was incredibly saddened when the news finally broke that he would not.  Like most Americans, I had no real understanding of the tremendous struggle he faced in making this decision while doing all he could to fulfill both his professional and personal responsibilities. News headlines highlighted a career ‘marked by tragedy’ which ‘fell short’.  Perhaps our propensity to see challenges as a ‘win-or-lose’ situation and the persuasive ‘winner take all mentality’ contributes to minimizing an incredible career and prevents it from be described as something other than spectacular.

My 2018 goals include reading a book a month.  I recently finished Joe Biden’s recent book – “Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose”.  He strikes a delicate balance of describing the hope of believing his eldest son Beau would beat a cancer diagnosis and the hardship of deciding rather or not to seek the presidential nomination all while pursuing his purpose as a public servant.

It occurs to me that while as one colleague pointed out “Joe, sometimes the man meets the moment”, the converse is also true – sometimes the moment meets the [wo]man.  Former Vice President Biden readily admitted that he did not aspire to be vice-president, understandable as very few people strive to be No. 2.  We often overlook the nobility and virtue it takes to support someone else and help let their light shine.  What I find remarkable is Biden’s ability to make the most of unexpected twists and turns on this ‘path of life’ and to accomplish amazing things with very little attention or recognition.

This month as we celebrate Show-Love-Day (also known as Valentine’s Day), I want to show love to all those that allow my light to shine brighter.  I see you.  I appreciate you.  I love you.  Already this year has produced ‘moments’ I did not expect and had not imagined.  I am grateful and excited about what’s in store for the Collaborative as we continue navigating these moments.  I hope you’ll continue to join us for the ride.

The post When Tragedy Befalls appeared first on Tampa Bay Healthcare Collaborative.

Even still, there was something else that motivated this month’s post.  Admittedly, I am a bit thrifty – I look for ‘deals’ like it’s a job.  So imagine my surprise when I wondered into a local price-point based store and found a book I had heard about in passing for $4.00!  There, stacked among lots of random books was Year of Yes: How to Dance it Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes – founder and CEO of ShondaLand – both a real and fictitious place.

Arguably, I’m late to the party on realizing this amazing treasure – after all, the book was released November 2015. However, I’m convinced the right time for me was the exact moment I picked it up.   You may have heard me excitedly share ‘I don’t watch live TV’.  (I turned off my cable a few years before it was the trendy thing to do.)  Yet, there are a few shows I like to watch even though I don’t see them in “real-time”.  I got hooked on Grey’s Anatomy on a fluke, I had heard many accolades about it but mistook another medical-type drama show as it for a long time and couldn’t figure out why there was so much hype.  Until, I saw an episode – once that happened I binged watch every season until I caught up.  I love the writing, there are so many ‘quotable’ lines.  I asked someone to be “my person”.  I’ve suggested people “dance it out”.   And Christina Yang’s final piece of advice to Meredith Grey “He is very dreamy, but he is not the sun. You Are.” is forever imprinted in my brain.

As the Collaborative celebrates 15 Years of Service this year, we hope to inspire  you – our members and partners.  We will continue to be your ‘person’ – helping you do what you do better.  We will keep dancing.  And we realize that even when things seem bleak, the sun is still shining.  Keep reading to get a sneak peek of what’s in store for 2018.

The post Unsuspecting Inspiration appeared first on Tampa Bay Healthcare Collaborative.

I am in the Christmas ‘spirit’. Folks have asked, what’s different this year? To be honest, I can’t quite put my finger on it but I ‘feel’ different. A little more joyful, a little more optimistic – a little more ‘merry’. You know what else feels different? The Collaborative! I’ve been a part of the Tampa Bay Healthcare Collaborative for almost 15 years. I’ve been a committee member, a board member and for nearly 7 years, I’ve served as the Executive Director.

You may have heard me share that I believe my role is a combination of the things I like most, my best skill sets.  I have enjoyed watching the organization grow and change over the years in both subtle and not so subtle ways. But, there is one thing that will never change – TBHC is and always will be member driven.

Time and time again, you, our members and partners have shown me that we are meeting needs and even more, we’re adding value. I am sincerely grateful for that. Many thanks to those who completed the member survey – see details about the results here. Special thanks to those who participate on committees, serve on the board, attend meetings and events, and share what we are doing – you are the reason I keep going.

Let me assure you, we have no plans of stopping. In fact, the team and I spent some time earlier this month planning out the 2018 calendar. I am so excited (and a little awed) by the collective brainstorming. We will be celebrating 15 years of service with you in mind. I look forward to sharing our plans soon. In the meantime I hope you have a chance to spend time with loved ones, reflect a little and relax a lot. Hope to see you next year.

The post I’ve Got a Feeling appeared first on Tampa Bay Healthcare Collaborative.

Accomplishing Goals

Members were asked to indicate how well the organization was accomplishing its goals. Astoundingly, 100% of responding members agreed that TBHC increased awareness and knowledge of the region’s healthcare leaders, resources and issues, 97% of responding members indicated that TBHC increased understanding of health equity and culturally competent and linguistically appropriate care and 97% indicated through TBHC, wellness is promoted in the Tampa Bay region.

Fostering Relationships and Facilitating Partnerships

TBHC works to foster relationships and facilitate partnerships among members and partners.  Our Quarterly Meetings and events are designed to provide information, resources and networking opportunities.  To make sure we are accomplishing these goals, we asked members how we were doing.

Almost 95% of the responding members indicated that TBHC provided tools and resources that could help to build effective relationships and/or partnerships. Take a look at the chart below to see what else responding members thought.

We’re elated that the survey results indicate we are meeting the needs of our members.  The survey also highlighted a need to increase member participation and engagement.  We are currently updating the TBHC website and exploring other ways to get members more involved.

Thank you for your continued support of TBHC and the feedback you provided.

The post The Members Have Spoken appeared first on Tampa Bay Healthcare Collaborative.

Marissa Davis passionately described the Cultural and Linguistic Competency Training and Assessment System – our solution to combat the unjust differences that exist in health care delivery as a result of a person’s race and/or ethnicity in 3 minutes.  She then spent another 3 minutes responding to questions from the judges.  Our social enterprise concept is based on the successful Cultural and Linguistic Competency Initiative we implemented with support from the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg.   At the end of the night, the winners were announced – TBHC won the Accelerator Award and $5,000!  Stay tuned as we begin ramping up in 2018.

The post We’re All Business appeared first on Tampa Bay Healthcare Collaborative.

Nonprofit Quarterly recently published an article declaring “Communications as the New Nonprofit Core Competency”.  I encourage you to take some time explore and learn more about framing.  Another great resource is the FrameWorks Institute who have tackled subjects such as oral health, climate change and mental health.

I recently had a chance to put some of my newly acquired skills into action.  I’ll let our event attendees decide how well it went over.

The post How Do You Say It? appeared first on Tampa Bay Healthcare Collaborative.

Some of the highlights from the event were:

• Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, Pinellas County Sheriff: Informed the audience that he believes the current system model needs to change, resulting in the focus being put on Intensive Case Management.
• Representative Kathleen Peters, Florida House of Representatives: Stressed to the audience the need for community voices to be louder, as she is one person and can’t fight the battle alone.
• Rochae Zwicharowski, Recovery Advocate: Asked attendees to educate themselves and to talk to individuals in recovery to help get a clearer understanding as to the effects of drugs, particularly Opioids have on a person.   It is not an easy addiction to break.
• Jon Essenburg, VP of Medication Assisted Treatment Services, Operation PAR: We need to find a new way to treat the problems that lead to the use of drugs, initially. The real issue is not Opioid abuse, as most users are not concerned with dying, but rather, they are concerned with withdrawal symptoms.
• Reta Newman, Director, Pinellas County Forensics Lab: Opioids are not the problem. Fentanyl is the real problem. Users don’t know what they are really taking, and they have no idea how potent what they are taking may be.

Attendees left the event with some takeaway advocacy related action items to immediately begin utilizing, such as (1) Contact legislators and ask for additional treatment funding, (2) Talk to family and friends about the Opioid epidemic to help destigmatize the issue so that those in need of help feel more comfortable seeking treatment, and (3) Educate yourself!   As the Advocacy Committee discusses plans for 2018, this issue will continue to be highlighted by the committee.  Additionally, TBHC will begin to dive deeper into the Social justice implications of the effects of this epidemic on disenfranchised, underserved and vulnerable residents in Tampa Bay, and the connection to health disparities and basic quality of life outcomes for everyone.

The post Let’s Talk Solutions: The Opioid Epidemic in Pinellas County appeared first on Tampa Bay Healthcare Collaborative.

I’ll readily admit, I under-prepared for Hurricane Irma primarily because I had an out of town trip previously scheduled.  My airfare had been planned and purchased months earlier.  My flight was Friday afternoon before the storm.  A few friends suspected that I wouldn’t make it back on Monday so I packed a few extra things ‘just in case’.

If I were an employee who was paid hourly, if I didn’t have enough income to purchase a ticket beforehand (or even scarier after the ‘State of Emergency’ was declared), if I didn’t have the means to stay a few extra days, I would have had a much different experience.  My point is emergency/disaster preparedness including evacuation is an economic privilege.

We pray that you and your loved ones made it safely through the storm – physically, mentally and emotionally with little or no damage.  For some, the bounce back will be quick.  For others, it will take a while to get use to the ‘new’ normal.   My hope is that we learn valuable lessons from this experience, stay aware of the potential dangers and help others maximize the opportunities.  

The post Reflections on Recovery appeared first on Tampa Bay Healthcare Collaborative.

Steady is defined as firmly fixed, supported, or balanced; not shaking or moving.  I believe staying steady should be our aim as nonprofits.   Over the past few months, I’ve been tempted to get off course.  TBHC is committed to advocacy, health equity and wellness yet when President Trump announced plans to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, I was tempted to change the focus of the upcoming quarterly meeting. To be clear, we are concerned about climate change and believe it is a matter of health equity and social justice however, it is not one of our primary areas of work. I had to remind myself that we needed to remain laser focused, to keep the main thing the main thing.

I’ve also become more aware of how fast the news cycle is.  I’ve consciously tried to keep track of the changing political landscape and the almost daily updates regarding potential healthcare legislation, yet when I woke up to an email in my inbox whose subject claimed ‘we had won’ I was excited and confused.  I now know more about the late-night vote but I also recognize it is not the time to stop.  We should celebrate the tenacity and courageousness of the countless number of Americans who have and are sharing their story, however we have to stay steady because the fight is not over.

During my time writing this blog, I’ve come across two things which have inspired me.  The first is a recent article in the Washington Post entitled, I Could Use My Voice it highlights 10 movement leaders, activists if you will.  I was struck with the recognition that while you can care about a lot of things, you have got to be singularly focused to truly be successful.  Secondly, I had a chance to meet and hear Vu Le, nonprofit executive and writer of Nonprofit AF (formerly Nonprofit With Balls).  His thought-provoking presentation reminded me of just how awesome we (the nonprofit sector) are and how amazingly complex the work we do is.

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