Focus Area: Equity

Equity is at the core of the Healthy Klamath experience. It encompasses a shared value of inclusion, along with an open-hearted perspective to understand the barriers that may affect the health and wellness of others. This community health improvement plan focus area seeks to provide tools to help Healthy Klamath members, and other community members, understand the elements of equity, health literacy and cultural competency.

We like to refer to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s views on building a culture of health that relies on equity and inclusion, which can be found here.

Data Snapshot for County: Klamath

49.9% Female Population
107.0People Homeless Population
50.1% Male Population
17.8% People Living Below Poverty Level
5.0% Population American Indian and Alaska Native
1.2% Population Asian
1.0% Population Black or African American
14.4% Population Hispanic or Latino
0.2% Population Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
22.8% Population Over Age 65
14,909People Population Over Age 65 (Count)
4.9% Population Two or More Races
87.7% Population White
76.2% Population White (Not Hispanic or Latino)
70,003People Total Population
 
Overarching Goal

Provide cultural competency, equity, health literacy and social justice resources to Healthy Klamath network agencies, which will also be available to the community at large.

 

Full Community Health Improvement Plan equity focus area information

Click here to access the access to equity pages of the 2022-25 Klamath County Community Health Improvement Plan.

Reports

Click here to access the Progress Report.

Click here to access the Community Health Improvement Plan work plan.

Resource library

Click here to access the Healthy Klamath Equity resource library.

Lead agency

Klamath County Public Health.

Baseline

There have been no equity coalition-based cultural competency/equity activities in several years.

Benchmarks

Increase Healthy Klamath network agencies’ reporting of equity principles used and education accessed by 10% over baseline survey by October 2025.

Sponsor at least one cultural competency/equity activity, beyond what exists within the community, and resource each quarter throughout the three-year CHIP period

Two Spirit, LGBT+ population

According to the 2020 Oregon Student Healthy Survey, in Klamath County roughly one in 10 youth (14.3% of 8th graders and 9.9% of 11th graders) are gay, lesbian or bisexual. Gender identity information was not available on a county basis.

However, statewide 11.2% of 8th grade females and 3% of 8th grade males identified as non-binary. At the 11th grade level 10.6% of females and 3.5% of males also identified as non-binary.

Statewide, 14.8% of 8th graders and 18.0% of 11th graders reported being gay, lesbian or bisexual.

Nationwide, a 2021Gallup survey reflected 7.1% of the population self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual.

 
Objectives
 

Objective 1

Support the equity elements of the other five CHIP focus areas by providing at least one resource quarterly.

Objective 2

Sponsor at least one quarterly community event to promote awareness, conversation and action about cultural competency, equity, health literacy and social justice.

 

Objective 3

Provide at least one annual cultural competency, health equity, health literacy and social justice training for Healthy Klamath member agencies and the community.

Objective 4

By January 2025, provide information to Healthy Klamath partners, and other interested agencies, about measuring internal and external perceptions about cultural competency and equity.

 
Assets & Resources

Each Community Health Improvement Plan focus area has its own assets and resources within the community, in addition to supporting information and efforts being made statewide and nationally. Local resources include staff time, subject matter knowledge, promotion through communication channels and financial support, wherever possible and necessary. In addition to these resources, best practices are available through Healthy People 2030, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), among other national and regional agencies.

All Healthy Klamath network agencies are working toward equity in a variety of ways. Two have professionals assigned to equity efforts — Cascade Health Alliance and Klamath County Public Health. These two individuals will be supported in their work by other agencies, which include, but are not limited to:

 

  • Healthy Klamath Agency

  • Klamath County Libraries

  • Klamath Health Partnership

  • Klamath Tribal Health & Family Services

  • The Klamath Tribes

  • Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Residency Program & OHSU School of Nursing

  • Sky Lakes Medical Center

 Regional, statewide & national agencies

 

  • SO-Health-E (Jackson County based health equity coalition)

  • American Public Health Association: Health equity fact sheets

  • CDC: Inclusive communication

  • Oregon Health Authority: Office of Equity and Inclusion

  • Oregon: Services for seniors and people with disabilities

  • Portland: Q Center

  • Pronoun use: mypronouns.org

  • LGBTQ+: Safe zones project

 
State and National Efforts

Healthier Together Oregon: 2020–2024 State Health Improvement Plan

Note: In the text below from the plan, BIPOC-AI/AN stands for Black, Indigenous, People of Color - American Indian/Alaska Native.

 

Equity and justice

The plan states: “Oregon has a unique history of white supremacy. This history and current institutional racism has created disadvantages for communities that are real, unjust and unacceptable. COVID-19 has shined a spotlight on the impacts of systemic racism; COVID-19 has disproportionately affected BIPOC-AI/AN communities in infections and death. All people in Oregon feel the stress of COVID-19, but non-white communities have the most burden. To increase health and reduce inequities for affected communities, institutions need to change how they do business. We will only reach our equity goals through co-creation and power-sharing with communities.

 

“Racial equity needs to be built into everything state agencies do. Policies and initiatives need to rectify past injustices while honoring the resilience of communities of color. Until historically marginalized populations share decision-making authority in our state, decisions will favor the dominant culture, reinforcing institutional bias and contributing to disparities. Funding needs to reflect greater investment in communities that have been affected. BIPOC-AI/AN-led committees should be funded to inform state agency plans, policies and budgets. Agencies need to collect and analyze data to understand the unique needs of communities. The following strategies have been identified to advance equity and justice:

• “Declare institutional racism as a public health crisis.

• “Ensure state health indicators are reported by race and ethnicity, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, nationality and geographic location.

• “Require state agencies to commit to racial equity for BIPOC-AI/AN in planning, policy, agency performance metrics and investment.

• “Ensure state agencies engage priority populations to co-create investments, policies, projects and agency initiatives.

• “Build upon and create BIPOC-AI/AN-led community solutions for education, criminal justice, housing, social services, public health and healthcare to address systemic bias and inequities.

• “Require all public-facing state agencies and state contractors to implement trauma-informed policy and procedure.

• “Reduce legal and system barriers for immigrant and refugee communities, including people without documentation.

• “Ensure accountability for implementation of anti-racist and anti-oppression policies and cross-system initiatives.”

Healthy People 2030

The initiative’s website states: “As Healthy People has evolved over the decades to reflect the most current science and address the latest public health priorities, it has strengthened its focus on health equity. This focus is reflected in one of the overarching goals of Healthy People 2030: ‘Eliminate health disparities, achieve health equity, and attain health literacy to improve the health and well-being of all.’

“Healthy People 2030’s emphasis on health equity is closely tied to its focus on health literacy and social determinants of health. Social determinants — like structural racism or systemic bias — can affect health literacy and contribute to health disparities. Taking steps to address these factors is key to achieving health equity.

“In line with this focus, Healthy People 2030 provides tools for action to help individuals, organizations, and communities committed to improving health and well-being advance health equity.”