For the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington (SPH-B), rural health outreach and community involvement is an active goal alongside quality education and preparing the public health leaders of tomorrow.
Thanks to the leadership of Beinner Family Professor Antonio S. Williams, SPH-B and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield will be collaborating to expand access to preventative health services in rural Indiana with two vital programs – Hoosier Health Check (HHC) and Unidad de Prevención de Diabetes. Let's take a closer look at the people and research behind the partnership and how it will support local Indiana communities.
Supporting our neighbors
Priscilla Barnes, an associate professor in the Department of Applied Health Science, has led HHC through the Center on Community-Engaged Dissemination and Implementation Research (CCEDIR), which connects community-engaged research and implementation science at SPH-B. Formally known as Heart Healthy Hoosiers, the program was initially funded by a grant from the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH), with logistical support from the IU Center for Rural Engagement.
“I didn’t want to be the academic that gets a grant and when it ends, so does the program,” says Barnes. “We are all trying to pursue healthy and thriving communities where people can live, work, and play…we are grateful to Anthem for the continued support.”
Barnes and her community partners Carissa Miller, coordinator of CEASe, and Certified Community Health Worker Wendy Bailey help bring free health services to community locations, with recurring events in Green, Scott, and Brown counties. Such services include food pantries, free yoga and cooking classes, and hypertension screenings.
“Carissa and Wendy make sure we have enough people for a given event and supplies needed for various health stations,” says Sydney Whiteford, CCEDIR program manager. “We’ve also been able to include SPH-B students as volunteers to give them hands-on experience working directly with community members across Indiana.”
Filling a crucial health equity gap
In 2024, Applied Health Science Associate Professors Karla Galaviz and Ines Gonzalez Casanova saw the crucial need for a diabetes detection intervention to help close the health equity gap in rural Hoosier Hispanic populations. The initial phase of mobile diabetes screening units that would formally become Unidad de Prevención de Diabetes were launched in Daviess and Dubois Counties last summer. To date, the program has reached more than 300 people, with more than half being detected with either prediabetes or diabetes.
“We are now focused on connecting those individuals with the preventative and healthcare services they need,” says Galaviz. “Building on this success, we have expanded to Bloomington and are currently preparing to launch a new mobile unit here this fall.”
Gonzalez Casanova says Williams and department colleague Nana Gletsu Miller initially contacted them about the Anthem partnership opportunity, since their program fit neatly in with the goal of supporting projects that addressed chronic disease prevention in high-risk populations. The funding from Anthem will help make the Bloomington unit a reality, sustain the existing units, and give this community resource much-needed stability to build it out into the foreseeable future.
“Anthem’s support comes at a critical time for this project,” shares Gonzalez Casanova. “It allows us to continue providing these vital preventative services to Latino and rural communities at a time when other programs have been cancelled or scaled back. It also enables us to expand the program’s reach to other individuals who may be at high risk for diabetes but are unaware of it.”
Principal investigator for this collaboration Williams adds, “This collaboration reflects the power of bringing together academic expertise and industry leadership to create meaningful, lasting impact in the lives of individuals, families, and communities throughout our state.”
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