Humana’s Community Impact Program is Bridging Health Disparities, Access to Care, and Health Literacy Needs

Humana’s Community Impact Program is expanding the ways employees can make a difference in our local communities and beyond. As part of this program, I recently had the honor of participating in Humana’s inaugural Community Impact trip, traveling with 31 colleagues to the Dominican Republic to provide primary care and community support through a collaboration with One World Surgery (OWS). During the weeklong trip, Humana and CenterWell clinicians provided primary care at the OWS facility, at pop-up clinics in three nearby communities, and even made home visits to patients. We also hosted a community health fair with resources and first aid education for both children and adults. Our non-clinician employees contributed to community-wide wellbeing through projects that addressed health-related social needs. To address garbage and sanitation issues, the team organized trash collections and painted and donated trash receptacles to parks and schools. The team also restored a local playground, painting and repairing existing equipment and installing new features. By the end of the team’s day of playground restoration work, a previously unusable space had been transformed into an area where children could safely play. By the end of the week, we had provided primary care services to a record-breaking 564 patients, including a single-day milestone of 233 patients at Batey San Filipe—surpassing previous records by over 100 individuals. This experience exemplifies Humana’s commitment to helping everyone achieve their best health and to improving wellbeing in communities near and far.

Delivering care to underserved communities in the Dominican Republic provided new perspectives and solutions to address health challenges that impact an individual’s ability to achieve optimal health.

A range of societal challenges compound existing health disparities and limit access to care. Outside of the One World Surgery facility, our team saw patients in three nearby bateys. Bateys were once the company towns of the sugar cane industry, providing rudimentary housing to migrant workers during the sugar cane harvest. Today, these settlements are home to both Dominican nationals and a large undocumented Haitian population. Due in part to the declining sugar cane industry and a lack of public services provided by the Dominican government, bateys are often marked by significant disrepair and the absence of sanitation and other essential infrastructure.

The undocumented Haitian population in the Dominican Republic faces significant barriers that negatively impact health. One of the most prominent challenges is limited access to the public healthcare system. Undocumented individuals are ineligible for government health insurance, making care unaffordable. Even when care is needed, some individuals do not seek it due to the real or perceived risk of deportation. Combined with the absence of healthcare facilities within bateys and limited transportation options, these factors have contributed to a system where some individuals rely on informal and unregulated sources for medication and treatment, which can result in unsafe or ineffective care.

Limited health literacy further impedes individuals’ understanding of prescribed medications, chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes, and reproductive health needs. As a result, underserved communities experience preventable health issues and lower overall wellbeing. Observing these challenges firsthand provided valuable insights into the complexities of healthcare delivery in marginalized settings.

Delivering care in the Dominican Republic gave me a new perspective on innovation. The word is often used to describe technological advancements; however, a better way to think of innovation might be any change that creates improvement and makes things easier and more effective. Innovation should remove barriers, not create new ones. To improve health outcomes, we must meet people and deliver care where they are. We did this in the Dominican Republic by creating pop-up clinics and conducting home visits within bateys to care for patients who, for a range of reasons, could not access the traditional healthcare system. We must also meet people where they are on their healthcare journey. This means taking the time to understand the obstacles individuals face in achieving their best health and charting a path forward that removes these obstacles.

As mentioned above, we observed significant gaps in the understanding of health information, which reinforced the connection between health literacy and health outcomes. Patient education is a critical part of care delivery, and effective communication of healthcare information requires the thoughtful use of plain language, simplification of medical jargon, and checks for understanding throughout medical visits. In addition to improving health literacy, devoting time and resources to first aid instruction, especially in geographically remote areas, can equip communities with life-saving skills. Blood loss is the number one cause of preventable death after injury, so we taught both children and adults how to stop bleeding, using makeshift tourniquets. We also taught CPR for infants and adults and provided education on nutrition and hygiene to empower individuals with knowledge about their health.

My final takeaway from our work with One World Surgery in the Dominican Republic is to be aware of the wide range of patient experiences, understanding and resources related to health and health care. Assumptions based on prior experience will not always be useful, but by remaining curious, we can create small changes capable of creating big improvements. Working with One World Surgery in the Dominican Republic truly embodied Humana’s values and commitment to giving back. We arrived with a goal of caring for communities in need and while this goal was accomplished, we came away with so much more. We came home with a deepened sense of purpose and new tools to improve access to care and eliminate health disparities. These valuable insights are already being implemented across the business, and I look forward to the ongoing influence our community impact initiatives will have on the health outcomes of the members and patients we serve.  To learn more about our initiatives to support communities in need and improve health outcomes please read Humana’s Impact Report.