Maine CDC Office of Population Health (OPHE)
Working to advance health equity by illuminating and addressing underlying conditions and systems that limit the full potential of all Maine people to lead healthy, safe, and opportunity-rich lives.
OPHE collaborates with Maine CDC programs and partners with community leaders to ensure public health initiatives are informed by and reflect the needs of the people we serve. OPHE focuses on promoting and protecting the health of Maine people and the communities where they live, learn, work, and play.
What is Health Equity?
Health equity everyone having a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health.
Achieving health equity requires identifying and addressing social, economic, and other systemic barriers to care that contribute to poor health outcomes. These barriers include poverty poor environmental conditions, insufficient housing, unstable employment, limited education, and cultural and language differences. These barriers overwhelmingly impact under resourced communities under resourced, but inequities affect us all.
What is Population Health?
Population health is a collaborative approach to public health that encourages partnerships with non-traditional stakeholders, including community-based organizations, cultural brokers, educational institutions, and policy makers, to gain knowledge about the characteristics and needs of the communities and people we serve in an effort to identify ways to achieve positive health outcomes.
What are Social Drivers of Health?
The conditions in which we are born, grow, age, live, and work that affect health outcomes. These factors have been shaped by generations of systemic inequity that have resulted in health disparities for some communities, especially, but not limited to: people who identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC); immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers; people who identify as LGBTQ+; people with disabilities, women, aging adults; people experiencing homelessness; people living rurally; and people who are currently or formerly incarcerated.
Health Equity Advisory Council
The Health Equity Advisory Council was launched as a 2-year pilot initiative in August 2022 as part of a set of OPHE-led efforts to advance health equity across Maine. The Council intends to continue operations beyond the pilot and into the future.
The Council provides OPHE with invaluable connection to communities facing health inequities and seeks to ensure that OPHE's programming and strategy are responsive to community needs, with an explicit focus on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color ("BIPOC") communities. The Council enables lasting inclusive and participatory relationships between community members and OPHE, and Council members represent a broad cross-section of personal and professional experience including community leaders, medical professionals, social workers, public health professionals, health care administrators, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) experts.
Office of Population Health Equity Newsletter
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Want to learn more? Contact the Office of Population Health Equity!
Contact
- General Inquiries: health.equity@maine.gov
- Maine CDC Receptionist: (207) 287--8016
- TTY users call Maine Relay 711
OPHE Team:
- Eden Silverthorne, Associate Director (eden.silverthorne@maine.gov
- Lane Simsarian, Health Equity Program Manager (lane.simsarian@maine.gov
- Abigail Harper, Program Manager (abigail.harper@maine.gov
- Bronte Kastenberg, Program Manager (bronte.kastenberg@maine.gov
- Hamda Ahmed, Community Care Navigator (hamda.ahmed@maine.gov