Health Care Leaders, Advocates, Researchers and More Converge On Pittsburgh
The Camden Coalition’s annual “Putting Care at the Center” conference will take place in Pittsburgh for the first time this week.
PHOTO: ADOBE STOCK
From Wednesday to Friday, policymakers and health care providers will come together for the annual Camden Coalition’s “Putting Care at the Center” conference, hosted this year in Pittsburgh.
The conference is meant for healthcare and social service providers, policymakers, researchers, advocates, complex care consumers and caregivers and more and is held in a different city each year. This year’s conference will take place Oct. 16-18 at the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Downtown and is being co-hosted by UPMC Health Plan.
“With Pittsburgh and many other cities facing challenges related to housing and food insecurity, mental health, substance use disorders, affordable housing and others, national leaders in the field of complex care will be gathering … to share best practices and effective models for treating individuals with complex health and social needs,” according to UPMC.
Speakers include Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services Valerie Arkoosh and Director of the Allegheny County Department of Human Services Erin Dalton. Sessions include topics such as “Building bridges: The role of hubs in forging ecosystems of care” and “INSPIRE: Building meaningful collaboration with people who have lived experience.”
Luis Ortega, director of Storytellers for Change, a Seattle-based organization that works with youth, educators, leaders and organizations to amplify their impact through storytelling, will moderate a session with Father Paul Abernathy, CEO of the Neighborhood Resilience Project in the Hill District. The session will cover “the power of ecosystems to meet the collective needs of the community,” according to the website, and Abernathy will “share how his organization works across sectors to meet the needs of his community street by street.”
New this year are two-minute buzz sessions, inspired by the University of Pennsylvania’s 60-Second Lectures. “Prepare to hear fresh perspectives, innovative solutions, and thought-provoking insights from complex care leaders,” with the energy of a TED talk, according to the website.
The Camden Coalition is a nonprofit that works to improve care for people with complex health and social needs in Camden, New Jersey, and across the country. Pre-registration information for the conference can be found here.
