A call for health justice: Striving toward health equity at a community health center.

Abstract

Community health centers play a key role in promoting health justice and equity. Health justice, which is the attainment of health equity, or the fair, unambiguous, and non-arbitrary distribution of all health resources necessary for optimal health of the individual, family, and community, is necessary to optimize their wellbeing and to build healthy communities. Community-based health centers are well-positioned to lead in these efforts, as they connect with, seek to understand, and innovatively serve communities that experience complex health-related needs and are differentially impacted by structural vulnerabilities (i.e., racism). The purpose of this article is to present a nurse-led model of culturally responsive health care that is rooted in partnerships designed to address medical and health-related social needs. Current health inequities in the United States across constructs of race and socioeconomic status warrant comprehensive healthcare models that explicitly incorporate health justice, trauma-informed, and antiracist approaches into practice, especially when serving high/complex-need and under-resourced communities. Foundationally, it is imperative that these models of care strive toward equity regarding access to compassionate, affordable, culturally relevant health care; center community members' voices and guidance; promote growth and development of staff in understanding structural barriers and act to dismantle them; and create learning opportunities for students and staff to understand and address social determinants of health to provide high-quality care, with an ultimate goal to improve community health.