Community Health Improvement Activities

Among the many activities that ensure OU Health invests well in our communities, you’ll find:

• Oklahoma City Public Schools partnership, provides district wide school-based telehealth and integrated health education programs for Oklahoma City Public Schools children.
• Community education events, including “doc talks” and community events to broaden education on health disparities
• Cancer screening events from OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center screening in rural and/or underserved areas of Oklahoma
• Live to Give Program, an opportunity for OU Health staff at all levels to give time to help make Oklahoma a better place; gets our volunteers actively involved with numerous charitable causes that strive to make a positive difference throughout the community; since its creation in 2008, more than 3,000 OU Health volunteers have supported more than 70 organizations; just in 2019, more than 500 volunteers participated in activities coordinated by Live to Give that accomplished work to enhance and strengthen communities
• Sooner Success, a statewide program to help make healthcare services more widely known and accessible to families of children with special healthcare needs
• Oklahoma Healthy Aging Initiative (OHAI) created a statewide program partnering with hospital systems, long-term care facilities and insurance providers to help prevent falls among older adults in Oklahoma
• OU Health Summer Feeding Program, operational since 2018, ensures Oklahoma children continue to receive adequate nutrition during summer break; thousands of meals provided at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Summer Food Service Program; children up to age 18, regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability, all receive the same meals and services
• Food as Medicine pilot program and research study pairs LocalFarmOK with OU-Tulsa faculty, physicians, alumni and students to provide weekly home delivery of fruits and vegetables for nine months at no cost to participants interested in helping understand the effect of fresh produce on chronic disease
• OU-Tulsa’s Culinary Medicine program visits local communities to answer parents’ nutrition questions and provide tips on getting children involved in the kitchen, as well as hosting interactive fruit and vegetable “teach and taste” stations

Activities Within Our Facilities

Within our own facilities, OU Health invests in efforts that meet health needs outside the traditional medical model, including:

• OU Health mobile food teaching cart helps dialysis patients with extremely strict diets learn to cook appealing and easy-to-prepare food that meets their dietary needs; Child Life specialists support the program and collaborate on teaching with OU Health food service
• Certified Child Life specialists work as part of the healthcare team, anticipate family needs, and prepare and provide play, educational and developmentally appropriate activities that emotionally support children and their families within the care plan; toys, gaming, special events, activities help distract from the hospital environment and necessary medical treatments; kids connect with peers in familiar, fun ways
• Bear in My Chair, a school re-entry and support program, helps hospitalized children or those out of school for an extended period due to injury or illness
• The Baby Care Class instills confidence in parents caring for tiny NICU babies before returning home; hands-on class provides in-depth information for parents to use after discharge, including education on healthy homes, safe sleep, smoking cessation and new-parent basics such as diapering, soothing and support
• Music Therapy, established in 2016 as an extension of the care plan; individualized music therapy for pediatric patients ranges from drumming, tapping and strumming to songwriting and heartbeat recordings; provides an outlet for self-expression and coping
• Paws for Purpose, started in 2017 as an OU Health institutional initiative of Oklahoma Children’s Hospital; extended from a strong volunteer pet therapy dog program, a patient favorite for more than 20 years; provides many of the benefits associated with regular exercise, including reduced stress and anxiety, decreased blood pressure, increased endorphins

For more information about OU Health’s work in the community, please contact us, here.