Initiatives

Addressing Healthcare Access: Health Care Workforce Shortage

To support the development of a strong, local healthcare workforce.

A well-trained and accessible workforce is the cornerstone of the health delivery system. The ability of our region to thrive economically is also forever linked to the availability of a high quality, skilled workforce. Charting the Course: A Coachella Valley Healthcare Workforce Needs Assessment was commissioned by the Desert Healthcare District in 2009 (click here for the report).

As part of our commitment to support the healthcare workforce needs of the region, the Desert Healthcare District has been working in collaboration with local hospitals, educational institutions, workforce development, local healthcare industry partners and the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership to expand and enhance the pipeline for new healthcare workers.

The District has awarded grants to expand and equip local healthcare teaching facilities, create new certificate and degree programs, enhance teaching capacity, develop healthcare industry councils, research and prepare technical studies, support career exploration for students and fund nursing and health career scholarships. Future registered physicians, nurses, licensed vocational nurses, therapists, managers, teachers, techs, and other allied health workers are helping to fill the pipeline as a result of these collaborations and grants.

Access to Healthcare for Black Residents

To address and help improve access to healthcare for the Coachella Valley black communities who are affected by health and wellness disparities due to systemic racism.

Access to Healthy Foods

To increase access to healthy foods especially for vulnerable populations including seniors, the food insecure, andℑ children living in poverty.

Air Quality for Eastern Coachella Valley Residents

To work in collaboration with community partners to address and lessen the health effects of environmental hazards such as the highly saline Salton Sea and illegal dump fires.

Behavioral Health Initiative

The District and Foundation Board approved funding up to $2 million to establish a Behavioral Health Initiative, which reflects a focus area in its strategic plan, on March 27, 2018. Read the 2019 behavioral and mental health needs assessment for the Coachella Valley here.

Coachella Valley Health Survey - 2019

In 2019, Health Assessment and Research for Communities (HARC) conducted a community health survey of and for the Coachella Valley, with the support of a District and Foundation grant. One of the deliverables was the creation of trendline data reports on the four focus areas. Read the reports linked here: Healthcare Access; Mental Health; Socioeconomic Needs; and Key/Major Diseases.

COVID-19 in the Coachella Valley

Since the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) hit the U.S. in early 2020, the Desert Healthcare District and Foundation has been an essential resource for nonprofit organizations and agencies responding to the virus in the Coachella Valley. To date, nearly $3 million in support has been allocated by the District and an online community resource center established.

To see the impact of one of the District's most effective collaborations, with the Regional Access Project Foundation, click here.

CV Link

By 2025, pedestrians, bicyclists, and electric vehicle drivers will have a 14-foot-wide, 52-mile-long trail connecting them to all nine Coachella Valley cities. The link will run along Whitewater River, parallel to Highway 111. Portions of the trail are in place in Rancho Mirage, Cathedral City, Palm Springs, and Palm Desert; these portions will be widened in the next few years, and construction meeting national-standard sustainability goals will begin in 2015. The $70 million trail will showcase local history, public art, and Native American materials, and several electric-vehicle charging stations.

Our Community Health Focus

Health Infrastructure and Services

Grants awarded under this focus area will prioritize providing core operating support for community actions that improve health-related infrastructure by increasing access to healthcare for traditionally underserved populations, increasing the number of mobile and portable medical units, and increasing capacity to serve patients through telehealth technology.

Behavioral Health/Mental Health

Grants awarded under this focus area will implement key strategies highlighted in the DHCD Behavioral Health Plan, along with addressing or mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the behavioral health and mental health of our community.

Homelessness
Grants funded under this focus area will build upon or support strategies recommended and implemented by the Coachella Valley Association of Governments-Coachella Valley Homelessness and Engagement Action Response Team (CVHEART). Some of those include cooling centers, case management/wrap-around services, and community outreach.

Vital Human Services to People with Chronic Conditions

Grants funded under this focus area will support programs, projects, and organizations targeting and/or providing services to community residents with chronic conditions by strengthening organizational capacity, increasing levels of services to meet increased demand post-COVID-19, supporting organizations undergoing organizational mergers, and increasing the number of case managers.

Economic Protection, Recovery, and Food Security

Grants funded under this focus area will seek to provide much-needed support in areas of distress by sustaining ongoing efforts by collaborative partners, promoting community collaborations and regional work around these efforts (service caravans), and increased case management at food pantries through measurable food security, self-sufficience, and quality of diet.