Community Health Matters: How to Make an Impact

Explore children’s hospitals’ work that goes beyond the hospital walls and into the community.

Published Jan. 28, 2025|
page hero/community_health0125

Communities play a central role in children’s health and the health of their families. The conditions where children live, learn, and play contribute to their health and well-being. To address factors such as nutrition, access to health care, and safe living conditions, children’s hospitals’ work goes beyond the hospital walls, directly into communities.

Through targeted programs and partnerships, children’s hospitals address social drivers of health, support rural health, provide vital resources, and improve health outcomes. Find a collection of these strategies below. If your hospital is making an impact, we want to hear from you.

About Children's Hospital Association

Children’s Hospital Association is the national voice of more than 200 children’s hospitals, advancing child health through innovation in the quality, cost, and delivery of care.

Learn More

Social Drivers of Health

large card/social_drivers_report

Screening for Social Drivers of Health: Children's Hospitals Respond

A Children’s Hospital Association and Nyoo Health report shares how children’s hospitals and health systems screen patients and families for social drivers of health.

large card/social_drivers_companion0924

Addressing Social Drivers of Health: Children's Hospitals Taking Action

Hospitals and health systems are forming programs and partnerships to create a network of services that address the social drivers of health.

large card/cht_neighborhood0524

Does a Child's Neighborhood Affect Their Chances of Hospitalization?

Recent studies confirm the major influence of social and community factors on children’s health.

Rural Health

large card/cht_rural_health_care_partnership1124

Initiative Seeks to Strengthen Pediatric Care in Rural Georgia

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Mercer University School of Medicine have combined efforts to support rural health care providers who care for children.

large card/cht_dartmouth_han0924

Go Broad or Go Home: Sustaining a Rural Workforce

A health system is taking an expansive approach to bolster its workforce and improve economic opportunity in its state.

large card/cht_rural_virtual_doctor0824

Overcoming Rural Health Care Challenges

Children’s hospitals should be the spark and catalyst for creative solutions in the face of reimbursement and workforce challenges.

School Health

large card/cht_schoolbased_behavioral_health1121

Prevention Through Intervention: A School-Based Behavioral Health Program

A system of behavioral health centers increases access and intervention for students in more than 280 New York schools.

large card/cht_school_based_telehealth0124B

School-Based Telehealth Improves Outcomes and Equity

For low-income schools in North Carolina, a health system’s telehealth services are much more than a convenience.

large card/cht_healthy_schools0124

Creating Healthy School Environments

A children’s hospital collaborates with schools to ensure students have safe places to learn.

Community Partnerships

large card/cht_stephanie_white_1224

Becoming a Difference Maker

A nurse’s quest to improve social drivers of health in her hometown.

large card/cht_players0624

How Children’s Hospitals Support Their Communities

A Wolfson Children’s Hospital program illustrates the multitude of community benefits offered by children’s hospitals throughout the country.

large card/food_insecurity_collection

How Children's Hospitals Are Addressing Food Insecurity

Learn how children's hospitals and health systems are working to provide vital resources to address food and nutrition insecurity among children.

Webinars On Demand

large card/event_sdoh_screening_clinical_setting

Social Drivers of Health: Screening in the Clinical Setting

Learn how Phoenix Children's Care Network overcame common challenges to implement social drivers of health processes within its primary care network.

large card/event_sdoh_engaging_family

Screening for Social Drivers of Health: Engaging Families

Learn how incorporating families fosters trust, encourages honest responses, and holds providers accountable to enhance the effectiveness of health interventions.

large card/event_climate_change0724

Children’s Health and Climate: A Children’s Hospital Perspective

Join Children’s Hospital Association for “Children’s Health and Climate,” a two-part webinar series exploring the ways climate change impacts children’s hospitals and pediatric health.