I-HOPE

About the Program

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted preventative healthcare, exacerbated chronic illness, and cast a spotlight on how the health of Hoosiers is affected by the conditions in which people live, play, learn and work. Now, nearly 100 I-HOPE partners throughout the state are working together to address health disparities, which are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or in opportunities to achieve optimal health. 

I-HOPE will address barriers to care that exist for people living in rural areas, minorities, and people from different cultures and backgrounds. From healthcare associations, coalitions and state agencies to faith-based organizations and universities, I-HOPE partners are collaborating to improve multiple conditions that affect health such as nutrition, affordable housing, transportation, childcare issues, and safe and secure employment.

Initiatives

To ensure Hoosiers have equal access to the resources they need to improve their health, associations, universities, hospitals, businesses, and social services in Indiana are working together to align and enhance public health, healthcare, and non-health interventions. I-HOPE partners are gathering and building datasets to help communities choose Healthy People 2030 priorities, sharing resources, and figuring out how to predict what's coming from a public-health perspective. In the meantime, our state universities are busy building and implementing community health improvement plans and directly engaging with communities ranked most vulnerable to pandemics.

I-HOPE-funded initiatives include, but are not limited to:

Economic Stability: Food Access/Food Security

• Indiana Black Breastfeeding Coalition – Indiana Department of Health (IDH)
• Donor Milk Express Pilot Program – IDH
• SNAP/WIC Outreach – IDH
• Rural food quality and access programs – IDH
• Food as Medicine Models for Rural Southern Indiana – Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement

Healthcare Access and Quality

• Heart Healthy Hoosiers Cardiovascular Disease Prevention - IDH
• Expansion of the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program – IDH
• Interventions to Reduce Smoking During Pregnancy in the Rural and Southern Indiana – IU-School of Public Health-Bloomington
• Ensure zero barriers to Naloxone access – ShipHappens
• Assist community members living with SUD in navigating recovery systems and provide services – Wayne County Paramedics
• Address patient barriers that prevent access to telemedicine and support utilization of remote patient monitoring – Indiana Primary Health Care Association
• Mobile crisis intervention – Wayne County Paramedics
• Viral hepatitis services programs - Damien Center and Step Up Inc.

Social and Community Context

• IDOH Trauma Informed Communities Project – Wayne County Paramedics
• Develop community coalitions to address COVID-19 issues – Qsource
• Responding to Racial Disparities in Health – Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement
• Develop Linguistically and Culturally Appropriate Community-level Communications Campaigns – Purdue University

Neighborhoods and Built Environment

• Healthcare and Rural Housing - Corporation for Supportive Housing – Indiana Program
• Bicycle and pedestrian master planning for rural areas – IDH

Many of the initiatives fall under more than one Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) category. This list is still being developed, and is not a complete representation of the I-HOPE partner efforts.