Dori Bush, education and outreach coordinator for the Central Nebraska Area Health Education Center, is a member of a five-person team that attended the inaugural Institute on Public Health and Faith Collaborations Sept. 9-12 in Atlanta.
The team, from Grand Island, was one of 12 chosen nationwide to participate in the program. More than 100 teams applied for participation.
The Institute for Public Health and Faith Collaborations, a program of the Interfaith Health Program, fosters the capacity of public health systems and communities to improve the complex and enduring behavioral and social conditions under girding health disparities. The program trains teams to instigate faith-based initiatives within the medical community and the community at large in their respective areas.
Bush thinks that “developing and expanding collaborations of faith communities working with public health and health-care delivery groups recognizes the connection of spiritual and physical health and the benefit that can be obtained when these organizations work together in areas of wellness and public health awareness activities.”
In addition to Bush, other team members from Grand Island who attended the conference include Sonja Simpson, director of the Central District Health Department; Colleen Babcock, health educator; the Rev. Julio Calero, a pastor in Grand Island; and Susan Haeker, director of health ministries at St. Francis Medical Center.