Year 4 Evaluation Summary

Partnerships

Establish, expand, and enhance partnerships

Strengthening Partnerships with NH DHHS 

Biram Saidybah, NH DHHS Office of Health Access, and Emilia Poehlman at the NH Nutrition Equity Summit in October 2024. 

This year, NH Disability and Health Program (NH DHP) continued to strengthen its partnership with the NH Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) by building new connections and expanding collaborative efforts. We worked with the Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program (TPCP) to improve the accessibility of their outreach materials. The TPCP team invited our team to participate in quarterly Tobacco Free Network’s meetings to bring a disability perspective to state level tobacco efforts. We also connected TPCP with Special Olympics NH (SONH), resulting in their participation in the SONH Healthy Athletes event. Another department we collaborated with at NH DHHS was the Office of Health Access (OHA). NH DHP co-presented with OHA at the NH Nutrition Equity Summit to share communication strategies that reach the whole community. We look forward to seeing how our partnership with NH DHHS will continue to grow and create new opportunities. 

Closing Gaps in Oral Health Care Through Professional Training

Through feedback from the DHAWG and participating in the ABLE NH Oral Healthcare Task Force, NH DHP identified that a lack of accessible dental providers have created a healthcare gap for people with disabilities in NH. In response, the team collaborated with a dental hygienist and disability advocates with lived experience to develop a new healthcare module training for oral health professionals. Building upon the success of the online Responsive Practice training modules, the NH DHP team launched Responsive Practice: Providing Effective Oral Health Care to Adults with Disabilities in the spring of 2025. 

The training is online and on demand. It addresses the four pillars of a “responsive practice”:

• Be disability aware,
• Work in partnership with patients,
• Be flexible, and
• Presume competence. 

Dentists and dental hygienists can receive one hour of free continuing education. NH DHP looks forward to sharing this opportunity with oral health professionals across the state who want to ensure their care is accessible and inclusive of people with disabilities.

Showcasing Training Impact and Opportunities at APHA 2024

Members of the NH Disability and Health Program (DHP) team conducted qualitative thematic analysis of over 3,000 of the national Responsive Practice participant responses to:

• What suggestions do you have to improve the training?
• What future topics would you like to learn about health care for people with disabilities?

The team summarized strengths and weaknesses of the existing training modules and future training topics related to disability and health. One of the identified strengths of the training was the inclusion the perspectives of people with disabilities. Many participants shared that they wanted the training to be more interactive and include opportunities to check for understanding.  This data can be applied to the development of future healthcare education. For instance, the team that developed the new Responsive Practice oral health module applied what we learned from this analysis.  In November, the NH DHP team shared a summary of this analysis at the American Public Health Association 2024 Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, MN. 

Emilia Poehlman at the 2024 American Public Health Association Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, MN

Area Agency Collaboration Expands Program Reach

This year, the NH Linkage team expanded its outreach efforts with area agencies across the state. This included attending in-person meetings, developing targeted Health Linkage Program materials for case managers, and cultivating relationships with area agency staff. The impact of these efforts can be seen through program enrollment. In Year 3, seven of the 28 enrollments (25%) were referred through an area agency, compared to 24 of 52 (46%) in Year 4. One of the staff members from Community Bridges, the area agency that serves the Capital Area, recognized the benefit of working with the Health Linkage Program staff to better serve her clients. You can hear from Ashley Kennedy in the following video. 

DHAWG Connection Sparks New Partnership with Camp Allen

DHAWG member Dr. Lisa Plotnik wears many hats in our community, including physician at Dartmouth-Hitchcock and board president at Camp Allen. After brainstorming about opportunities to host more Living Well in the Community (LWIC) workshops at a winter DHAWG meeting, Dr. Plotnik considered Camp Allen as a potential collaborator to facilitate LWIC workshops and introduced the NH DHP team to the camp staff. The Camp Allen staff identified overlap between the Living Well in the Community (LWIC) curriculum and an existing camp program called “Life Camp.” Camp Allen implemented an abridged LWIC workshop in May with thirteen campers. 

Small Change, Big Impact: Accessibility at Gather

In the fall, NH DHP was contacted by Gather, a local food pantry on the seacoast that serves over 10,000 people monthly. Gather’s request was to review their registration form and provide accessibility recommendations. NH DHP provided several opportunities for improvement and encouraged the organization to add an accommodation question to their form. By adding an accommodation question, Gather is providing the opportunity for individuals with disabilities to communicate their needs and receive the support they need. People with disabilities are more likely to experience food insecurity. Ensuring that disabled people can access services and programs at food pantries is critical. With this change, Gather took an important step toward providing inclusive services. 

Equipping Partners to Reach the Whole Community

Throughout Year 4, the NH Disability and Health Program (DHP) engaged with community partners to share disability accessibility and inclusion strategies through training, presentations, and technical assistance. The program collaborated with organizations including the Southern New Hampshire Area Health Education Center, Wentworth Douglass Hospital, and Foundation for Healthy Communities to deliver presentations to healthcare workers, public health professionals, and hospital staff. 

These presentations are incredible opportunities to highlight actionable steps to improve access for everyone, including people with disabilities. Beth Wheeler, Senior Director for Population Health & Equity at the Foundation for Healthy Communities, shared about the impact of the NH DHP facilitating presentations for two hospital peer groups in the fall, “We have received quite a bit of positive feedback - our members are interested in better understanding how they can provide supportive and inclusive environments for all people and this is one area where they felt they needed to bolster their efforts." The NH DHP team is eager to expand these efforts by continuing to share important insights and promote disability inclusion across the state.