The FDHA Blog

We’ll be sharing insights and resources to help you stay informed and proactive about your health. We believe that knowledge is power, and by staying informed and engaged, you can take charge of your health and well-being.

Awareness Month

National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day

April 10, 2021, is National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day, a day to recognize the major impact HIV has on the youth and the need for more education and prevention. According to the CDC, in 2018 youth age 13-24 made up about 21% of all the new HIV diagnoses

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Awareness Month

American Diabetes Association Alert Day

March 24, 2021, is American Diabetes Association Alert Day, is a one-day wake-up call to all Americans about the seriousness of diabetes when left undiagnosed or untreated. The CDC reports that as of 2020, 34.2 million people have been diagnosed with diabetes in America. In 2019, diabetes was the 7th

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Awareness Month

National Nutrition Month

March is National Nutrition Month. This month the FDHA highlights the importance of making informed food choices and developing healthy eating habits. According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the average person’s diet exceeds the recommended intake levels from solid fat calories, added sugar, refined grains (wheat,

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Awareness Month

World Obesity Day

March 4, 2021, is World Obesity Day! The FDHA supports worldwide efforts to raise awareness about obesity and the other diseases it affects. The World Health Organization reported that in 2016, over 650 million people worldwide were obese. The risk of getting heart disease, strokes, diabetes, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer,

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Awareness Month

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

March 10, 2021, is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Throughout the month of March, the FDHA continues to support women and girls impacted by HIV and AIDS. According to the CDC, in the U.S., adult and adolescent women made up 19% of the new 37,832 HIV diagnoses in

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Awareness Month

Read Across America

The purpose of Read Across America is to motivate children to read. It is an important factor in student achievement and creating lifelong successful readers. Research has shown that children who are motivated and spend more time reading do better in school. It is my proposal that The FDHA participate with elementary

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Awareness Month

Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month

February is Teen Dating Awareness Month. This month the FDHA advocates to raise awareness about teen dating violence and promotes violence prevention. The National Resource Center on Domestic Violence reports that each year about 1.5 million high school students across the nation experience abuse from their partners. Teen dating violence

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Awareness Month

American Heart Month

This February, the FDHA continues to raise awareness about American Heart Month! In the U.S., heart disease remains the number 1 cause of death for men and women. According to the American Heart Association (AMA), a person will have a heart attack about every 40 seconds. Also, a person will

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Awareness Month

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD)

February 7, 2021, is Black HIV/AIDS Awareness. The CDC reports that in 2018, Blacks /African Americans made up 16,002 of the 37,968 new HIV diagnoses in the US, and 1 out of 7 Blacks/African Americans in the US with HIV are unaware they have it. Important ways to reduce your

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Awareness Month

Cervical Cancer Awareness Month

The FDHA continues to raise awareness for women to protect themselves from cervical cancer and Human Papillomavirus (HPV). The National Cancer Institute states that in 2020, there were an estimated 13,800 new cases of cervical cancer in the U.S. According to the CDC, it occurs most often in women ages

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Asset Management

The Lease Transfer Agreement clearly states The FDHA’s responsibility for ensuring that all facilities currently operated by Grady are properly maintained and operated. This mandate goes beyond functioning as a landlord, but rather speaks to an expected standard of care for all. The FDHA and Grady must work collaboratively to ensure that all Grady facilities go beyond the minimum standard of “fit for use” so that the quality of Grady facilities is consistent with that of any other high-functioning hospitals.

Innovative Strategies and Initiatives

The most recent pandemic brought gaping healthcare disparities to light. As Georgia’s larg- est safety net hospital (and only safety net hospital in Metro Atlanta due to the closure of Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center), Grady continues to see increased service demands. Often, the medically indigent and underserved use the emergency room for primary care services. Issues like housing insecurity and poverty place additional strain on the Grady Health System, particularly when other factors (outside of the hospital walls) inform one’s overall wellbeing. As Grady continues to seek ways to improve health outcomes in the community, The FDHA is tasked with identifying innovative ways to support Grady’s efforts and broaden its reach into targeted sectors of the community. This pillar also speaks to The FDHA’s efforts to work collaboratively through grantmaking with organizations whose mission, vision, and work align with The FDHA’s priorities and goals. Through structured strategic partnerships, focused and aligned grant making, and ongoing community engagement, The FDHA will assume a leadership role in the health ecosystem.

Stakeholder Engagement

There are many stakeholders within the Fulton/DeKalb health ecosystem. Stakeholders can be characterizedas individuals, groups, or organizations whose efforts either inform healthcare outcomes or are impacted by healthcare outcomes. Grady remains The FDHA’s most important partner in this effort and a key stakeholder in the health ecosystem. As the daily operators of all of Grady’s health facilities, hundreds of thousands of patients per year (more than 700,000) are impacted. Maintaining consistent communication and collaboration with Grady’s Executive Leadership Team and staff is central to the success of The FDHA.

 

Similarly, The FDHA’s alignment and support of Grady’s population health and community engagement efforts are invaluable. As a grantor, The FDHA has an extensive network of community-based partners that work daily to provide direct services and/or support various health priorities. Many of these organizations provide services directly related to social determinants of health (i.e., housing, education, transportation, etc.) thereby adding value to the continuum of care. As The FDHA seeks to embrace a more prominent role as a convener, organizer, and facilitator in the health ecosystem, engaging stakeholders with purpose and intentionality becomes increasingly important.

Organizational Capacity & Accountability

The FDHA’s obligations, relative to its role as owners of the facilities operated by Grady and stewards of county resources entrusted to Grady, require the requisite skills of staff to execute key administrative and regulatory functions. Establishing and maintaining a staffing model that adequately responds to the needs of the agency is vital. Of equal importance is the establishment and maintenance of high-functioning financial management systems and general operations controls. Critical front and back-office functions should be insulated from staff turnover or shifts in organizational priorities. The provision of ongoing staff development opportunities will ensure that team members stay abreast of industry standards, best practices, and leading-edge opportunities. In addition, the curation and maintenance of financial management best practices ensure organizational accountability and responsiveness.

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