About the Rural Health Equity Project

Supporting rural Lane County communities through community engagement and building capacity for addressing health inequities.
Recognizing the need for more outreach and collaboration with our rural communities, this project is a pilot community engagement plan for gathering community input from rural community members most impacted by health disparities related to race, geography, and income and building capacity to address them. 
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This project is a part of Live Healthy Lane's charge to gather community input on health equity and access based on existing health disparities in Lane County in order to bring forth  recommendations for the ‘21-25 CHP implementation that will advance health equity in Lane County. 

Purpose

  • Build capacity for addressing health disparities related to race, geography, and income in Lane County.​​
  • Support rural Lane County communities through community partnership and collaboration.
  • Center the voices and lived experiences of rural community members in decision-making.
  • Use information and relationships formed from the project to inform future community health investments and efforts - ultimately reducing health disparities in rural Lane County communities. 

Pilot Community Forum Summaries

In May and June 2022, a community forum was held in each pilot community, with approximately 25-30 participants attending each event. Key themes that emerged included needs around childcare, mental health services, living wage jobs, dental care access, healthcare access, insurance coverage, language accessibility, and a need for intersectional solutions. In July 2022, United Way of Lane County shared the following summaries with the Live Healthy Lane Steering Committee. Live Healthy Lane partners continue to explore opportunities to incorporate the findings of the report to address the needs of rural communities in Lane County.

Background

  • The 2017 Lane County Health Equity Report showed the many health disparities in Lane County - particularly among people of color 
    • 1 in 5 people in Lane County live in poverty
      • ​rates of poverty  among Black, Indigenous, and Latino/a/x individuals are almost double this 
    • Rural Community members, particularly those living in poverty and communities of color who have been historically marginalized against, experience worse health outcomes 
  • In response, the Board of Health made a request in June 2018 to gather community input on health equity and access based on disparities identified in 2017 Health Equity Report
  • In response to the Board of Health request, the Lane Equity coalition, a CHP/CHA equity workgroup, formed a subcommittee charged with making recommendations to advance health equity in Lane County ​
  • This subcommittee created the Rural Health Equity Project as part of this charge to support rural communities with addressing health inequities.​

Pilot Communities


- South Lane  - Cottage Grove 

- Upper Siuslaw River Region 
​(Mapleton, Deadwood, Swisshome)
Our Pilot Communities were selected based on their health and education data, feedback from rural community partners and equity advisors, and existing rural partnerships with these communities.

We hope to expand the project to other rural Lane county communities as part of the '21-25 Community Health Improvement Plan (CHP) once our pilot project is completed with these 2 communities. 

Project Outline

  • Phase 1: Strengthen rural partnerships
  • Phase 2: Seek community advice on how to best support health equity efforts
  •  Phase 3: Build capacity for local health equity efforts
  • Ongoing Exploration (throughout entire project): Seek to collaborate on current health equity efforts/projects 
 Centering Rural Lane County Voices through Community Partnership and Collaboration 
Project Homepage  - Meet Our Team - Rural Partner Spotlights  
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