Global to Local

A New Partnership

HealthPoint, Washington Global Health Alliance, Public Health – Seattle & King County, and Swedish have entered into a formal partnership to work together to address disparities in local healthcare through a groundbreaking initiative:Global to Local, a new approach in applying global solutions to local healthcare challenges in underserved populations. SeaTac and Tukwila have been chosen as the pilot communities.

“It is surprising to many that some of the greatest disparities between the wealthiest and poorest in our nation can be found in our own backyards,” said David Fleming, director and health officer, Public Health—Seattle & King County. “We selected this location as our pilot site because there are profound differences between the health of its residents in comparison to other communities    in the region. Not only will Global to Local benefit these individual communities, it also has the potential to serve as a model in furthering community health.”

Numerous organizations within the Washington Global Health Alliance are working to improve

lives for millions worldwide. The new Global to Local initiative seeks to utilize expertise and experience from these organizations to uncover ways successful global health strategies can be applied in our county, state and country. 

South King County, in particular, has been selected as the pilot site because its health demographics mirror those in certain developing countries. There are many other communities in our state and country that have similar health disparities. The initiative’s leaders hope to create a program that can be replicated throughout our state and across the country.

Members of the Global to Local partnership are working together to develop a new community-based healthcare program to better educate and inform residents in South King County. This includes, but is not limited to, training and developing community health workers, partnering with cities to link health with economic development programming, mobilizing community-based organizations to make it easier for residents to select and choose healthier foods for their

families, generating educational campaigns around priority health issues, and using technologies and communications tools to transform practices.

“I see Global to Local as a collaboration amongst four organizations with the goal of helping the health of a community improve,” said Thomas Trompeter, Chief Executive Officer at HealthPoint. “By increasing our focus on health and wellness—including basic screenings and vaccines—we can decrease the need for acute care among those who lack access to the care that many of us take for granted.”

In addition to Swedish’s institutional support, Public Health—Seattle & King County has also contributed to the initiative by developing a program manager position to oversee the project. The program manager works out of HealthPoint’s SeaTac clinic.