HWHF OK

Healthy Women, Healthy Futures Oklahoma

Healthy Women, Healthy Futures Oklahoma (HWHF) is an evidence-based practice founded in 2008 that focuses on underserved populations with the highest birthrates and disparities in maternal and child health. HWHF is based in Life Course Theory (LCT), which addresses the importance of early programming to one’s future health and development through both intergenerational programming (a woman’s pre-pregnancy health) and prenatal programming (in utero).

We focus on reducing participants’ risk factors, which diminish health, and improving their protective factors by improving their access to primary care and other health services, and through health education, referral and care coordination.

To ensure that health promotion is provided in a manner that is culturally appropriate, culturally responsive and preserves cultural integrity, HWHF trains and supervises community peer educators:

Promotoras (Latinx women through Community Service Council’s Power of Families Project)
Sia Mah Nu (Zomi/Burmese women through Community Service Council’s Burmese Peer Educator Program)

We also subcontract with the Community Service Council’s (CSC) Healthy Start initiative to provide Behavioral Health Care Coordination and Interconception Case Management to women and children enrolled in the Healthy Start program. Both CSC’s and Tulsa Health Department’s Healthy Start programs use HWHF’s health promotion materials to educate their participants.

CORE COMPONENTS

ASSESSMENT – of women’s pre-pregnancy risk factors, including social determinants of health and family environment, and of infant and toddler’s social and physical development

EDUCATION – health promotion classes provided in one of three languages (English, Spanish, Zopaw/Zomi (a Burmese dialect)) to address women’s physical, emotional, social and financial health risks

CONNECTION – through referrals to medical homes, community services and resources

PARTNERSHIPS – with Community Service Council’s Healthy Start, Burmese Peer Educator and Power of Families Project programs, Tulsa area community schools, early childhood education centers, libraries, and community agencies serving Tulsa County