Medical Professionals as Community Advocates Presentation for UCI Medical School By Christine Petit, Ph.D. Building Healthy Communities: Long Beach

Social Determinants of Health Basic premise: programs, practices, and policies affect the health of individuals, families, and communities Moves from individual/behavioral emphasis to societal/policy emphasis

Building Healthy Communities: Long Beach Core Functions Providing support for:  Youth and adult resident engagement  Collaboration and resource sharing  Communicating our city's issues and community-based solutions in order to improve community health in Long Beach.

Building Healthy Communities: Long Beach Issue Areas  Active Mobility and Open Space  Community Safety and Healing from Harm  Environmental Justice  Food Access and Production  Health Access and Coverage  Housing and Community Benefits  Parent Involvement in Schools  Youth Engagement

Collaboration: Long Beach Rising!

Partnerships: Children’s Health Study Forum

A Doctor’s Perspective  “Physicians have a unique opportunity to advocate for issues. We have ‘social capital’ and trust, in general.”  “Weaving stories of patients to the facts is very useful. It is the stories partnered with facts and knowledge of the latest research that is successful.”  This advocacy can occur at multiple levels, including schools, churches, professional organizations. Most professional organizations have advocacy training offered to members.” ~Dr. Elisa Nicholas, The Children’s Clinic