Healthy Memphis Common Table Releases Report on Health Equity

Healthy Memphis Common Table (HMCT) held a “call to arms” on January 26 at the National Civil Rights Museum with “The State of Health Equity in Shelby County.” The luncheon, the first of its kind in the region, was designed to educate members of the community about the numerous ways growing health disparities are being addressed and empower citizens to become part of the solution. Here HMCT relaunched the Status Report on Efforts to Advance Health Equity in Clinical Care and Health Outcomes in Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee, which purposefully brought together those who provide care, pay for care, and legislate care to create a plan to address these disparities. This report and subsequent action plan were a result of a conference HMCT hosted in April 2010 that culminated in a guest panel of experts speaking about individual efforts to address health disparities. The panel determined a document was needed to share the status of disparities in the community, along with specific call-to-action options the community could embrace collectively.

To begin the relaunch event, Paula Jacobs, Administrative Director of Quality and Patient Affairs, Methodist North and Methodist South Hospitals, reminded the standing-room-only crowd of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., quote, "Of all inequalities, the injustice around health care is the most startling and inhumane."

"Being in that place during that time and reporting to the community the hard work we were doing to keep Dr. King's dream alive was incredibly humbling and fulfilling," said Jacobs.

Read the HMCT Equity Report here.

View the HMCT Health Equity Briefing here.