Building on Progress: Advancing East Portland Community Health Together
At Adventist Health Portland, caring for our community goes far beyond the walls of our hospital. It means listening, understanding and taking action to address the most pressing needs impacting the health and wellbeing of our neighbors. One of the most important ways we do this is through our Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA).
Conducted every three years, the CHNA brings together community input, regional data and partnerships with public health and community-based organizations to identify the most urgent health priorities in our region. This process helps guide how we invest resources, strengthen partnerships and design programs that create meaningful, lasting impact.
Looking Back: Three Years of Impact
Over the past three years, our work has been grounded in four key priorities identified through our CHNA: access to care, food security, health risk behaviors and housing stability. By aligning our strategy to these areas, we have been able to focus our efforts where they matter most—and the results have been significant.
Improving access to care has remained a cornerstone of our work. We invested more than $304,000 in Project Access NOW, helping uninsured and underinsured individuals connect to critical medical services, insurance enrollment and community resources. At the same time, we worked to ensure care is more inclusive and culturally responsive—translating more than 20 patient-facing forms and engaging directly with diverse communities to better understand barriers to care and improve health outcomes.
Addressing food insecurity has been another major focus. Through partnerships with local organizations, we expanded access to nutritious, culturally relevant food for families across our community. This included supporting a community garden on our medical center campus that provides land and resources for immigrant families, delivering more than 34,000 medically tailored meals to patients and their families after hospitalization via a grant with Meals on Wheels, and donating thousands of pounds of food to local pantries. Events like our First Friday community dinners also created welcoming spaces where nearly 900 neighbors could gather, connect and share a healthy meal at no cost.
We also strengthened our response to health risk behaviors, particularly substance use disorder. Through the launch of the IMPACT program in collaboration with community partner OHSU, we introduced a more coordinated, compassionate model of care that connects patients to treatment, case management and peer recovery support. Embedding peer mentors in our Emergency Department has helped meet patients at critical moments, offering encouragement and guidance when it’s needed most. In addition, we invested in caregiver education and community partnerships to ensure a more informed and supportive approach to recovery.
Housing stability has been another key area of impact. Recognizing that safe housing is essential to overall health, we partnered with local organizations to support individuals experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity. From providing emergency hotel stays and transportation after hospital discharge to distributing thousands of essential items like socks, hygiene kits and comfort supplies, our efforts have focused on restoring dignity and supporting safe transitions of care.
Across all of these initiatives, one powerful force has helped bring this work to life: our people. Our Volunteer Squad grew from just 74 members to more than 250, demonstrating the incredible impact of community-driven service. Whether assembling care kits, supporting food drives or partnering with local organizations, their contributions have helped extend care far beyond clinical settings and into the heart of our community.
Looking Ahead: A Shared Path Forward
As we look to the future, we remain committed to building on this strong foundation. Our latest CHNA continues to prioritize access to care, food security, housing and mental and behavioral health, areas where we know focused collaboration can drive meaningful change.
We will continue to deepen partnerships, expand culturally responsive care and invest in programs that address both medical needs and the social drivers of health. Because when we care for the whole person, we help create healthier, more resilient communities.
A Mission That Guides Us
“Our work in the community is a reflection of who we are and what we believe,” said our Mission Integration Executive, Dr. Terry Johnsson. “We are called to see the whole person and respond with compassion—especially for those who are most vulnerable. Through this work, we are bringing light, hope and healing to people when they need it most.”
At Adventist Health Portland, we remain committed to building healthier communities together.
