Eskenazi Health Campaign to Create Health Equity Zones in Indianapolis
Indianapolis-based Eskenazi Health announces a $60 million initiative to create health equity zones to address the social drivers that impact the health and well-being of residents in Marion County and across Central Indiana.
The health equity zone concept is becoming more popular. They are defined geographic areas where through shared vision and joint implementation of health goals, multiple organizations work to address long-term social determinants of health including racial equity and economic mobility to increase life expectancy for neighborhood residents.
In 2022, Washington became the second state to begin to create health equity zones to support communities in addressing the disparities they want to prioritize. The effort in the Evergreen State is modeled after one in Rhode Island. According to the Washington state Department of Health (DOH), the first year is emphasizing developing partnerships and community-centered processes to sustain this work long-term.
The Eskanazi campaign, known as Beyond Barriers, will provide funding to expand existing programs and access to services while also establishing three initial health equity zones. By 2025, health equity zones will be implemented at three Eskenazi Health Center sites located throughout Indianapolis: Eskenazi Health Center West 38th Street – International Marketplace, Eskenazi Health Center East 38th Street – Northeast Corridor and Eskenazi Health Center Grassy Creek – Far Eastside.
Since its inception as City Hospital more than 160 years ago, Eskenazi Health has focused resources to address social determinants of health in the community. With facilities deliberately placed in low-income neighborhoods and along IndyGo bus routes, these efforts have taken the form of free health coaching focused on nutrition and physical activity, clinic-based and drive-through food pantries, investment in creating walkable communities, a violence-recidivism reduction program, a medical-legal partnership, free resources for individuals battling cancer, support for new mothers, vaccination clinics, health fairs, and more.
“Everything we do at Eskenazi Health is in the interest of health equity. Making the opportunity of good health and access to care available to everyone in our community isn’t just a component of our mission, it is our mission,” said Lisa Harris, M.D., chief executive officer of Eskenazi Health, in a statement. “We recognized, given the foundational importance of this work, that we needed to deepen our efforts and become more deliberate in tying it all together, working within and, most important, with our communities and the multiple organizations committed to various facets of this work, drawing on their resources and strengths.” “When we put real resources towards public health, we can make real change, especially in underserved and low-income communities,” added Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett, in a statement. “Eskenazi’s $60 million-dollar commitment puts their ethic front and center to create more access to healthy lifestyles in every ZIP code.”
In addition to establishing health equity zones with neighborhood leaders and residents to increase access to healthcare, mental healthcare and nutritious foods, the Beyond Barriers campaign will allow Eskenazi Health to leverage existing resources and partnerships to collaboratively improve life expectancy in Indianapolis.
“Many people in our community experience health disparities as a result of inequitable access to health care and human service resources,” said Virginia A. Caine, M.D., director and chief medical officer of the Marion County Public Health Department, in a statement. “We need to continually ask about the health equity challenges our clients face and how we are addressing these challenges as a department, a school of medicine, an organization, a public health system, and in the community at large. Everyone should have a fair and just opportunity to be healthy, and it is our responsibility to offer this.”
The early products of this commitment are already positively impacting the neighborhoods close to both the Eskenazi Health downtown campus and Eskenazi Health Center sites. In 2022, the opening of the Fresh for You Market, located in front of the Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital, has provided easy access for both patients and local residents to grocery needs, ensuring healthy and nutritious food is readily available and accessible for all.
