Health on the street: our commitment to the community

Introduction : Hospital Plato (HP) is a health center in the city of Barcelona, founded in 1925, it’s an innovative hospital that from the beginning values the people. Since 2002, HP's strategy has been to view people as the backbone of the hospital's policies. To achieve this, in addition to an organizational and cultural change was necessary to implant as a model of quality management the European Foundation Quality Management (EFQM) and as a model of ethical behavior the Social Responsibility, both of them aimed to aligning the professionals actively with the values of the organization and with the own way of work of HP (differentiating factor), with the aim of improving the involvement, motivation and participation of the people. The "Days of Health on the Street" is a clear example of HP's commitment to their community to promote healthy lifestyles and non-discrimination of fundamental rights based on race, sex, religion, age and economic status. This initiative, born in 2012 and aligned with the mission and values of the organization, emerged from the will of HP of bring health to the citizens. Short description : Hospital Plato drives performing actions to provide knowledge that allow the adoption of a healthy lifestyle in order to highlight the prevention of disease and promotion of healthy habits. In the street, the professionals of the Hospital promote health education of citizens in order to develop their capacity for self-healing. The idea of leaving the physical barriers of the hospital and taking health care teams out into the street to approach citizens is a new idea in the context of our health sector and in our zone of influence. Throughout the duration of the sessions there were challenges in all aspects, at all levels: infrastructure (comfort and privacy), organization and dynamics of the day (attracting citizens) and evaluation of outcomes (satisfaction questionnaire). The "Days of Health on the Street" is an example of the commitment of Hospital Plato to their community. This initiative, aligned with the mission and values of the organization, emerged from the will of the Hospital to bring health to citizens. These days consists to move voluntarily and for a day, a multidisciplinary team of professionals, installed in a tent in different public of Barcelona, addresses issues of health interest in order to promote health, prevent disease and to get to the people the importance of health education. The Days are based on: engage the citizen, interview, describe and identify risk factors, inform about the disease, visit and diagnostic tests by the specialist medical for free. Key findings : The main results and benefits obtained to date are: - More than 600 people attended - Degree of satisfaction over 95% - More than 25 professionals each day have been involved - Interviews and mentions in local TV - Leadership of HP of the collaborative network Barcelona Living Health Highlights : The key objective is the development and implementation of actions aimed at providing the tools and knowledge to adopt a healthy lifestyle by the population, with the ultimate aim of influencing disease prevention. The key to the implementation of the good practice "Health Street: our commitment to the community" and its achievement is in the people of the organization, that voluntarily perform these actions. Through the good practice "Health Street: our commitment to the community" has enhanced the reputation, image and positioning of HP in the district (area of influence). The Hospital has become known among citizens conducting a health education activity has opened the doors of HP and bring the health and the healthcare professionals to the people at the street. Since 2012, we have done twelve days on the street, the first five are about Neurovascular disease and early detection of STROKE, and the last seven are about Prevention of consumption of drug, tobacco and alcohol. Conclusion : The main lessons learned from the conclusion of these Days of Health are: - To achieve the sustainability, alliances are key - The actions to ensure the right to health of people, generates a strong emotional bond between citizens and increases the involvement of professionals who receive directly on the street, samples of appreciation of the citizens that they attended - If the diagnostic tests are positive, it is necessary to monitor these patients - It is necessary to conduct surveys to professionals involved as volunteers, to know their perception and value their involvement - The volunteer recognition materializes in 2014 with a detail, in addition to public recognition through the Intranet - The professionals participating in these Days of Health as volunteers may be health and non-health professionals.