Initiatives

Ensuring health equity, the state in which everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health, by addressing social drivers of health and health disparities is in the forefront of our existing community health programs. We are implementing strategies to identify disparities in patient health outcomes and address health equity throughout the health system.

Strategies include:

• Community Health Advocate/Promotores
• Screening for Social Drivers of Health and linkage to services.
• Collaboration with Sierra Community House to provide place-based support.
• Increasing organizational knowledge through training and education.

Providing programming, education and outreach to support all phases of life.

Strategies include:

• Community outreach and education through targeted programming, health fairs, community talks and programming supporting healthy habits.
• Engaging community members in preventive care including linkage with primary care providers, health insurance, immunizations, community health labs, and early detection cancer screenings.
• Collaborating with community partners and coalitions to drive community health goals.

Chronic conditions continue to affect a significant proportion of the Truckee-North Tahoe community. Ranging from loneliness to high cholesterol to overweight/obese to chronic pain to depression these chronic conditions affect more than just the elderly.

Strategies include:

• Offering prevention and self-management programming.
• Assess emerging trends and develop targeted programming that promotes protective factors.
• Promotion of social connection as part of chronic disease management.
• Support for those with chronic disease through care coordination and care navigation services.

From upstream prevention programming to promote healthy behaviors and cultivate resiliency to screenings for early identification and navigation to care, Tahoe Forest is striving to support those with mental health needs.

Strategies include:

• Increasing access to mental and behavioral health screenings and health services.
• Expanding suicide prevention and crisis response activities and embedding mental health into the culture of care at Tahoe Forest Health System.
• Collaboration with Gateway Mountain Center to provide nature-based therapeutic mentoring and the Truckee Tahoe Suicide Prevention Coalition for community-centered outreach.
• Promoting the cultivation of resilience through “Stress Buster” awareness.

Substance misuse, which is the overindulgence in alcohol, prescription medications or use of illegal drugs, continues to be an identified community health need impacting individuals, families and the health system.

Strategies include:

• Clinical services including Medication Assisted Treatment and Substance Use Navigation.
• Implementation of harm reduction strategies.
• Building partnerships to expand outreach, counseling and health education including collaboration with Nevada County on the Know Overdose Campaign and prescription drug take-back events and education in local schools.
• Prevention and cessation programming for adults and youth including tobacco and vaping cessation.