Kaiser Permanente Community Fund: Request for Letters of Inquiry
The Kaiser Permanente Community Fund at NWHF focuses on advancing the health of the communities served by Kaiser Permanente Northwest. This fund addresses factors in the social, policy, and physical environment that impact community health - often referred to as the social determinants of health.
The deadline for letters of inquiry is July 6 at 5:00 pm. Note that the Foundation offices will be closed on Friday, July 3 in observance of the holiday.
Read the RFP
Northwest Health Foundation Releases Report on Obesity’s Effect on Rising Medical Spending in Oregon from 1998 to 2005
The Northwest Health Foundation has released a report commissioned from Dr. Kenneth Thorpe, Professor and Department Chair at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. The key - and unfortunate - finding of the study is that 34% of the increase in Oregon’s health expenditures between 1998 and 2005 can be attributed to rising obesity prevalence.
Please visit our Newsroom for more information.
Electronic Health Record Resource Now Available for Community Health Centers
A new Northwest Health Foundation resource is now available to assist community health centers in deciding if, when and how to implement an electronic health record system. Developed by a team at Portland State University with support of the Kaiser Permanente Community Fund, this handbook is intended to provide an overview of the key factors for community health centers to consider as they anticipate adopting electronic health record systems.
The need for such a technical resource is essential today for a number of reasons, including President Obama’s signing of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act.
The full text of the handbook, “Community Health Centers and Electronic Health Records: Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities,“ is available here
The Effects of the Global Financial Crisis on NWHF: A Letter From Jim Hill and Thomas Aschenbrener
Today’s reality compels us to affirm the long-term nature of our mission and the need to stand with the community during difficult times. [more…]
Oregon Health Forum Honors Thomas Aschenbrener, Larry Mullins and Reneé Ward
Each year, Oregon Health Forum recognizes outstanding leaders who’ve contributed to the health of Oregonians. This year’s honorees are no exception to the growing list of Oregon notables who’ve received a Leadership in Health award. Northwest Health Foundation’s own Thomas Aschenbrener was recognized for Visionary Leadership at the awards dinner on December 2, 2008. Larry Mullins, President and CEO, Samaritan Health Services was honored for Lifetime Leadership, and Reverend Reneé Ward, Founder/Executive Director, Chrysalis Ministries, received the Community Leadership award. Learn more…
In Flight: The Next 10 Years
How can we, as a society, move toward health and community wellness? We know from Northwest Health Foundation’s first 10 years of service to the community that supporting great local projects will not be enough. We also know that bringing people together will not be enough, and further, neither can we ask organizations to continually adapt to systems that we know are failing us all. Indeed, we have learned in our first decade that we will need to combine grantmaking, convening, and technical assistance with coalition building, advocacy and policy promotion to truly create the conditions for health in our community.
Our “In Flight” report describes our journey, but not retrospectively: it is a report to the community that takes a view of our next 10 years. Read the report.