Baton Rouge, La. – March 31, 2022 – Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome announced today two new public health assets through the Mayor’s Healthy City Initiative, HealthyBR. One asset is the relaunch of the HealthyBR.com website, which will serve as a one-stop shop for public health resources in East Baton Rouge Parish. The other asset is the release of Baton Rouge’s 2021 Joint Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), which is a collaboration of every major hospital and clinic in EBR identifying the health needs of the community and joint initiatives to address those needs.
“I am excited to announce the completion of the 2021 CHNA, along with our hospital partners. What I am even more excited about is the launch of our new and improved HealthyBR.com website. If the past two years have taught us anything, it’s the importance of each of us understanding our health and how to navigate the healthcare landscape. In order for our community to be a Safe, Hopeful, and Healthy Baton Rouge, websites like this one are going to be vital to ensure information and resources are accessible and attainable by all of our residents. From healthy recipes, to where you can access mental health services, to where there are bike paths near your house, all of this and more can be found on our new HealthyBR.com website,” said Mayor Broome.
HealthyBR.com
The new HealthyBR.com website will be Baton Rouge’s one-stop shop for all things health in Baton Rouge. Some of the exciting additions and improvements to the new website include:
- Community Resource Directory: This new directory will initially include behavioral health (mental health and substance use disorder) resources, but over the coming months the HealthyBR coalitions will be adding resources for people living with HIV, expecting and new parents and infants, and so much more. These resources will not only help residents understand what resources are in the community, but also help community-based organizations and our medical partners make referrals to much-needed services. The website and resource directory was developed with the support of the team at Vinformatix.
- Healthy Recipes and Demonstrations: Through partnerships with the LSU Ag Center, American Heart Association, and Pennington BioMedical Research Center the new HealthyBR.com website will be a source of seasonal healthy recipes that will include nutritional facts and video cooking demonstrations that people can follow along with in the comfort of their own home. https://healthybr.com/recipes
- Free Fitness Classes Online: The new website will host recorded sessions of our Family Fitness Rocks events. Family Fitness Rocks is an hour-long workout for the entire family. This class is taught by three different instructors who focus on three different types of mobility: no mobility and chair-bound, low impact, and high impact. The class consists of dance, martial arts, kickboxing, and more. Our hope is to continue to add additional recordings over time. https://healthybr.com/FitnessRocks
- Community Calendar and Volunteer Opportunities: The new site will include community events, training, and classes on various topics and activities. There will also be places to sign up and volunteer with one of our partners. https://healthybr.com/Events
2021 Joint Community Health Needs Assessment
The Mayor’s Healthy City Initiative (also known as HealthyBR) mission is to Communicate, Collaborate and Coordinate to make Baton Rouge a healthier place for all! HealthyBR is a coalition of over 200 organizations and over 400 individual members who work together around the significant health needs identified by the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA).
A Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) is a report that is required by the federal government under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), enacted on March 23, 2010. This act requires tax-exempt hospitals to create a CHNA every three years in order to preserve their tax-exempt status. Baton Rouge is the only community where all of the non-profit hospitals in the community write one joint CHNA AND one Joint Community Health Implementation Plan (CHIP).
Baton Rouge’s joint CHNA outlines the top 10 health needs in our community and shares the various initiatives in Baton Rouge that are happening to address these health needs. These top 10 health needs in our community were identified as (listed alphabetically): Behavioral Health, Chronic Disease, Health Equity and Racial Disparities, Healthy Living/ Lifestyle, Maternal and Infant Health, Pediatric and Adolescent Health, Public Health Emergency Preparedness, Sexually Transmitted Infections/HIV/Hepatitis C, Social Determinants of Health, and Violence Prevention. This document will help the public have a holistic understanding of resources available and initiatives underway. Also, organizations can use this as a roadmap to coordinate their efforts with other organizations.
Read the Baton Rouge’s 2021 Joint Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) here: https://healthybr.com/Community-Health-Needs-Assessment
The 2021 CHNA is used to identify the health priorities for the parish. The five significant health needs our community will focus on are: Behavioral Health, Healthy Living, HIV/STI/Hepatitis C, Maternal and Infant Health, and Health Equity and Racial Disparities. This is the third joint Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and joint Community Health Implementation Plan (CHIP) that HealthyBR and the five major hospitals have collaborated to write. The CHIP is a document that outlines how our community will work to address the significant health needs identified in the CHNA. The CHIP is a fluid document that will change over the next three years.
To see the accomplishments from the previous 2018 CHNA, you can read the 2018 Community Health Implementation Plan here: https://healthybr.com/UploadFiles/CommunityHealthAssessment/2018-2020HealthyBRCHIP.pdf
“A healthy state, as well as a healthy BR, begins with each one of us as individuals. But it certainly doesn’t end there — we must work together toward the same goals. The Community Health Needs Assessment represents a crucial step. Ochsner looks forward to continuing our work with Mayor Broome, the local medical community, and all our partners in making these goals a reality,” said Charles Daigle, CEO of Ochsner Baton Rouge
“Over the past two years, healthcare systems have faced some of their biggest challenges, but in the midst of it all our local hospital partners continued to push ahead doing the important work in the areas of greatest community need,” said Edgardo Tenreiro, President and CEO of Baton Rouge General. “We know that other healthcare needs didn’t go away — and some have been exacerbated during the pandemic — and that is our focus as we move forward with the new Community Health Needs Assessment.”
HealthyBR has already hit the ground running and begun working on the 2021 implementation plan for the CHNA. You can see the implementation plan here. If you, your organization, or your community group is interested in joining any of the four coalitions, please email healthybr@brla.gov or visit the new website www.healthybr.com.
The four coalitions are:
- Mayor Broome’s Behavioral Health Task Force: Works to increase education and awareness of behavioral health resources in East Baton Rouge Parish while also addressing stigma and trauma in both the clinical setting and community.
- Live Healthy BR: Helping to co-create a culture of health by promoting nutrition, physical fitness, and community wellness through policy, programs, and outreach.
- Baton Rouge Ending the HIV Epidemic Commission: Engage providers and the community around ending the HIV epidemic through a community campaign while continuing to expand STI/HIV/HEP C testing and connecting people living with HIV to resources.
- East Baton Rouge Maternal and Infant Health Coalition: Increase education and awareness of maternal and infant health resources in East Baton Rouge Parish while also addressing maternal fatalities through a community campaign.
“As a hospital committed to the health of women and infants, it’s important for us to work with our healthcare colleagues across the region to ensure that our women are having healthy pregnancies, and babies are all getting the healthiest start possible. This includes looking at social determinants of health, addressing any racial inequities, and finding ways for all women to have access to quality prenatal care. This not only benefits these women and their babies, but it leads to a healthier community overall,” said Dr. Cliff Moore, Chief Medical Officer of Woman’s Hospital.
“Our Lady of the Lake has worked for nearly 100 years to bring a Spirit of Healing to the communities our ministry serves,” said Coletta Barrett, VP of Mission for Our Lady of the Lake. “Our partnership with HealthyBR is an example of how our collective resources can meet the needs of our community and make an impact. There is still so much left to do, but we have come a long way since we first came together to end the HIV epidemic.”
“At Lane Regional Medical Center, our mission is to provide exceptional healthcare services to every patient, every time. We have a proud history of investing in community health programs and partnering with other organizations to identify and address the most urgent health needs in the communities we serve. We are pleased to be part of such a collaborative effort that will benefit the entire region,” said Larry Meese, CEO of Lane Regional Medical Center.
“COVID-19 clearly demonstrated the need for this strategic plan as well as the importance of collaboration among our health district members and policymakers. Pennington Biomedical is proud to be a part of both of these vitally important initiatives,” said John Kirwan, Ph.D. Executive Director of Pennington Biomedical Research Center
If you, your organization, or your community group is interested in joining this work, please email healthybr@brla.gov or visit the new website www.healthybr.com.