FOSTERING THE HEALTH OF COMMUNITIES - A UNIFYING MISSION FOR THE UNIVERSITY-OF-NEW-MEXICO HEALTH-SCIENCES CENTER

Fostering the health of communities can serve as a unifying mission of the academic health center (AHC), which can set the AHC apart from ot her health providers in the community. To achieve this mission, the Un iversity of New Mexico's AHC is increasingly focusing education, resea rch, and service upon the identified health and service needs of commu nities in its state. Since major health problems in our society have s ocial, behavioral, and economic roots, New Mexico's AHC has tapped int o the broad expertise of its different components as well as that of i ts state and community partners to adequately address health problems in the community. Its hospitals offer financing and management resourc es, its colleges offer innovative approaches to community-based educat ion, and the state department of health offers expertise in health pol icy development. To adequately respond to the complexity of community health needs, the different colleges and departments at New Mexico's A HC are increasingly merging into integrated governance units. Measures of community outreach success include evidence of strengthened commun ity development, increased health care access, and improved indices of community health. New Mexico's AHC formed an interdisciplinary rural outreach task force, which has demonstrated its ability to form partne rships with state and local agencies and to mobilize institutional res ources in education, research, and service from the AHC's different de partments, colleges, and hospitals to respond promptly to unique commu nity health needs. Evidence shows that such an integrated, coordinated AHC intervention can generate strong and lasting AHC-community allian ces, improve the quality and economic viability of community health sy stems, and enhance the financial resources of the AHC.