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HAN member Rush University Medical Center’s David Ansell, senior vice president for community health equity, spoke about the Chicago Hospital Engagement, Action and Leadership Initiative, or HEAL, that HAN members Advocate Christ Medical Center, AMITA Health’s Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center, and Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago are also members of. The HEAL action plan utilizes three pillars to address violence in 18 neighborhoods in Chicago. One of the key pillars is the anchor mission strategy of increasing local training and hiring commitments to reduce economic hardship.

Across the country we have seen community members mobilize to volunteer, donate, and produce needed medical supplies and equipment for our hospitals throughout the pandemic. Healthcare Anchor Network members’ anchor mission strategies of community engagement, volunteerism, and local inclusive procurement positioned them to move swiftly. Some examples include HAN members Intermountain Healthcare and University of Utah Health, along with several faith and nonprofit groups, creating ProjectProtect which is a grassroots initiative that enlisted more than 50,000 Utahns to produce half a million medical-grade masks for frontline caregivers treating COVID-19 patients and for vulnerable community members.

Healthcare Anchor Network member Maimonides Medical Center’s anchor mission approach is spotlighted in Building a Culture of Health in Central Brooklyn: From Protest to Health Systems Transformation, published by MIT CoLab. The case study tells the story of the partnership between the Coalition to Save and Transform Interfaith, Maimonides Hospital’s Community Care of Brooklyn, and Central Brooklyn residents and community leaders, that activated major cross-sector institutional commitments and investments in health equity.

This opinion piece co-authored by Weston Consulting CEO Marla J. Weston, PhD, RN, (formerly the CEO of the American Nurses Association Enterprise), Healthcare Anchor Network manager for communications and policy Bich Ha Pham, and HAN director David Zuckerman in the Nursing Administration Quarterly aims to further engage nurses as anchor mission leaders. The article describes how anchor mission hospitals and health systems are leveraging local and inclusive hiring and purchasing, and impact investing to transform the economic and consequent health and well-being of socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals and neighborhoods.

The Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) is a promotional sponsor of the Modern Healthcare virtual Social Determinants of Health Symposium on June 2, 2020 with HAN member Intermountain Health as the lead sponsor. With COVID-19, our nation has a glimpse into how deep health disparities run. The SDOH Symposium will cover actionable takeaways for addressing health disparities and solutions to ensure health equity.

COVID-19 has revealed that outsourcing medical equipment supply chains to other countries can lead to significant shortages. As a result, hospitals and health systems are looking to local vendors for PPEs and other needed supplies. For example, HAN member Trinity Health contracted with a local woman-owned and -led company, Detroit Sewn, to produce 50,000 masks for the pandemic, leading to 13 new expected hires.