Los Angeles Faith and Health Consortium, 9/28/21

A gathering of African American Pastors, faith leaders and regional health professionals for an important conversation.

In 2020, the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) approached the ACCA with an interesting question:  Do you believe Los Angeles County could benefit from the AC Care Alliance Advanced Illness Care program?   The response from Rev. Cynthia Carter Perrilliat, ACCA Executive Director was, “I don’t know. Let’s consider a needs assessment with important input from LA pastors as a starting point.”  Kate Meyers, Senior Program Manager at CHCF agreed and CHCF approved funding for a feasibility study to answer that question.

After conducting extensive outreach to faith leaders, community organizations, and health plans and health system partners in the LA county region, the ACCA hosted the LA Faith and Health Consortium on September 28th to listen and learn about the concerns of Pastors and other community leaders.  The virtual event brought together 22 LA Pastors and faith leaders representing 18 churches, 11 health leaders representing 7 health organizations, 4 community leaders and 4 philanthropic leaders, to discuss the following key questions: 

What do you do when your congregants and community members with serious illness and their caregivers ask for help in navigating the health systems?

How do you provide empowerment to congregants and community members with serious illness and their caregivers as they make decisions on the care they want or do not want?

Feedback from both faith leader and health leader attendees described the Consortium as a rich opportunity to hear what is really happening in our Black and Brown communities, especially considering the impact of Covid-19 in Los Angeles County.  A learnings report from the Consortium is currently being developed by the ACCA and will be shared with faith, health and community participants later in November.