Healthy Alliance is honored for being a leader in addressing the whole health of Capital Region communities
ALBANY, NY — Healthy Alliance was honored as a 2022 Empire Whole Health Hero, a program developed by Empire BlueCross in partnership with Albany Business Review to recognize individuals and businesses in the Capital Region that demonstrate innovation and leadership in building the whole health of the community. Healthy Alliance was selected for its dedication to improving health and empowering the underserved through creative and collaborative solutions.
With close to 1,000 physical partner locations across 25 counties in upstate NY, Healthy Alliance’s coordinated network of clinical, behavioral, and human service organizations work together toward ensuring community members have reliable access to the services they need — like healthy food, clothing, health insurance, utilities assistance, and much more.
In addition to its growing network focused on social determinants of health (SDoH), Healthy Alliance has worked to identify and innovatively address service gaps in high demand within Capital Region communities through its 2022 Micro-Spend Program and upcoming Schenectady Maternal and Child Health Community Health Worker (CHW) Hub, convened by Healthy Alliance.
Healthy Alliance’s 2022 Micro-Spend Program provided flexible dollars to 18 local clinical and community-based organizations working with the underserved throughout the Capital Region. Each participating organization used the funding to address community members’ one-time, immediate needs — like culturally appropriate clothing, space heaters, bus passes for interviews, driver’s licenses and/or non-driver’s license IDs, and more. The program served more than 500 community members in non-traditional capacities — often serving those who had been turned away from or didn’t qualify for existing programming — and recognized social determinants of health outside of the standards of food, housing, and more.
In 2022, Healthy Alliance also convened the Schenectady Women and Child Health Hub, a coalition of 15 local organizations, after identifying Schenectady County’s infant mortality and adolescent pregnancy rates as the worst in the Capital Region at 9.1 per 1,000 births and 21.5 per 1,000 females, respectively. The coalition will support fifty Schenectady County women throughout their pregnancy and up to one year after childbirth through tailored care based on their individual needs, including connections to social and clinical care services, care coordination, facilitating communication between agencies, establishing resources that need to be put in place, and more.
These initiatives showcase just a few ways Healthy Alliance is working to incorporate social care into traditional health care – addressing social needs before they turn into serious and costly medical problems. Healthy Alliance was honored at the 2022 Empire Whole Health Heroes luncheon on Wednesday, March 29, 2023, where Erica Coletti, Healthy Alliance CEO, sat on a panel to discuss how Healthy Alliance is paving a path forward toward better health for all.
To learn more about Healthy Alliance, visit www.healthyalliance.us.
