Seeking to move beyond stories to solutions, eight local health grant-makers, the County Health Care Agency and others have come together to fund a multiyear community diabetes initiative. Calling themselves The Health Funders Partnership of Orange County, the group brings together executive directors of private and corporate foundations with government leaders and academic researchers, to design collaborative responses to the pressing health care needs in Orange County. Using the Orange County Health Needs Assessment, itself a collaborative effort, the group identified access to care as a pressing need. They were particularly struck by the different impact and outcomes a chronic disease such as diabetes has on families of limited financial resources. This led to a shared commitment to design and implement a program to address the need for better diabetes care.
Results are clearly measurable.
In that smaller-scale project, participants used education, medication, exercise and changes in diet to modify their blood sugar levels and improve their health. CDC's newest report projects that the toll of diabetes will worsen before it improves, especially in vulnerable, high-risk populations. Coalition Projects .