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A new Community Advisory Council (CAC) composed of health care leaders and local stakeholders aims to be a catalyst for identifying health disparities, promoting true health equity, and improving health outcomes in Kalamazoo.

The CAC, which is composed of more than a dozen members and officially launched in May, is part of a collaboration between ��ͷ��app (��ͷ��app) and Bronson Healthcare to engage key community members to help find ways to improve services and care for the community’s underserved patient populations.

“That’s how we grow and learn,” said LaShawnda Bates, a project manager and data specialist who is leading the Bronson Cancer Care Equity Project. “This committee is really giving us that community perspective and allowing us to take a closer look at what we’re doing as a healthcare system and how we can keep moving in a positive direction in terms of health equity and access.”

The partnership that led to the formation of the CAC began in October 2023 after Bates attended the 6th Annual Health Equity Summit at the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus. It was at that event that Bates first met with Cheryl Dickson, MD, MPH, chief diversity officer and associate dean for Health Equity at ��ͷ��app, and began discussing the idea for the community-based group and its focus.

“We want to hear from the community and really find out what their needs are,” Dr. Dickson said. “It’s also an opportunity for us – ��ͷ��app and Bronson – to talk about the things we’re doing while also learning how we can do things better and build trust.”

Members of the CAC represent a wide array of lived experiences and local organizations. Among the members are Johnny Anderson, program director for Ministry with Community; Kama Mitchell, founder and executive director of the Rooted Enrichment Center, and Mattie Jordan Woods, a Kalamazoo native who served for 36 years as the executive director of the Northside Association for Community Development (NACD). The council also includes local church leaders and ��ͷ��app researchers, as well as representatives from Bronson, Family & Children Services, and El Concilio Kalamazoo.

Mitchell said she joined the CAC after being invited by Bates. For Mitchell, the council is an extension of the work she has done for years in the community to address Kalamazoo’s high infant mortality rate and advocate for reproductive and birth justice.

“Birth and reproductive justice, and how people are treated when they experience our local hospitals is huge for our organization,” Mitchell said. “We really focus on humanity and one of the things we often say is, unfortunately, our organizations and health systems are created with policy and protocol taking precedent over people.

“As a human, as a community member, and executive director of a healing arts organization, I’m looking for some truth telling,” Mitchell added. “I’m showing up (to the CAC) to say the hard things so we can really address the issues.”

Woods, who retired from her leadership role at the NACD in 2023, said being a part of the CAC was important to her because it allows her and others to serve as voices for the voiceless and advocate for improvement in Kalamazoo’s health care system.

“There are people who are not being heard and their symptoms are ignored and by the time they are so advanced it’s too late and it proves fatal,” Woods said. “I’ve heard from white, Hispanic, and black people who have had those same experiences of not being heard.”

Woods said she is hopeful that the CAC can serve as a change agent in the community by helping improve efforts around health equity so that all patients – regardless of race or income – have the same opportunity to receive competent and compassionate care. She said she also recognizes that more must be done to help physicians and nurses, and other medical providers, who are overwhelmed, overworked, and exhausted.

“The No. 1 policy change would be in regard to the well-being of the providers,” Woods said. “If you are overworked, if you are overtaxed you miss things.”

Despite the amount and size of the challenges the community currently faces, Woods said she is encouraged by the work the CAC has started and she believes the body can work toward having a real impact.

“What I really love is that the organizers are trying to cross culture, race, income, and entry points,” Woods said of the CAC and its members. “They aren’t necessarily trying to get a who’s who of the community. They are asking questions and seeking suggestions and they know there might be some harsh words that come out and harsh realities that get uncovered but they want to know so these things can be addressed and fixed.”

In her role at Bronson, which she began in 2022, Bates said she is tasked with identifying health disparities at the community level and then finding ways to close those gaps. Doing so, she said, is meant to bring about potential opportunities to improve services and health outcomes for the underserved.

The CAC, she said, is an important part of that effort and it is providing community members a seat at the table to give important input on what improvements and interventions might have a positive impact on those health disparities and health outcomes.

“We are being very strategic about making sure that we’re allowing for a safe space where everyone comes with their shared experiences and their different experiences,” Bates said. “We really want everyone to be honest and not beat around the bush so that we are getting real, relevant feedback. So far, it has been enlightening and it’s a space that, when I’m in it, I am so grateful that our council members are willing to share honestly and be vulnerable.”

As it stands now, Bates said a main focus for the CAC has been cancer screening and prevention, specifically in communities of color in Kalamazoo.

“If we can impact those rates for cancer screenings and start putting all of the pieces in place for patients to have those regular appointments, it allows for that domino effect,” Bates said. “By removing that barrier, hopefully other barriers along the way also come down in terms of other social drivers of health like housing, transportation, and child care.”

For her part, Dr. Dickson said she is confident the CAC can be successful. Moving forward, she said future meetings will serve as an avenue for organizations to inform ��ͷ��app physicians and researchers about their important work and provide input on how ��ͷ��app can best strengthen its connections with – and serve the needs of – ��the community.

“We’re all about creating and pushing for health equity and to do that we have to have engagement from the community or we won’t meet our goals,” she said. “I think though that we will meet that ultimate goal because we do have those voices from our community helping guide us and provide valuable feedback.”

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