Kathleen Noonan’s quest to build bridges between communities & researchers with long-term relationships & respect for experience & expertise, just like juries.
Summary
Kathleen Noonan, the CEO, catalyzed the transformation of the Camden Coalition into a national platform for complex care. She focused on capacity building, bridging healthcare research with community organizations, and emphasizing the power of diverse partnerships. Noonan is a staunch advocate for community-driven healthcare, pushing institutions to incorporate local insights and foster long-term relationships that shape better research and policy outcomes.
Click here to view the printable newsletter with images. More readable than a transcript, which can also be found below.
Two five-minute clips on YouTube.
Contents
Table of Contents
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EpisodeProemPodcast introThe fragility of healthJourney to healthcare advocacyInsights from the legal and corporate worldsTransition to Children’s Policy and HealthcareFirst encounter with Camden CoalitionThe impact of diversity at conferencesMeeting of the minds over community – research interfacesAn outsider co-directing a Research CenterImplementation, a different animal altogetherWho asks the research questions?Partnering in the communityEarning the right to speakFull of myself Call to actionPunching above our weight classFrom a local to a national organizationComplex care centerCommunity Nursing in 1976 – Walking Inner City route.Capacity to partnerLong-term relationships, lean into expertise.MediationMessy and localCommunity participation in research – capacity buildingStart with the research questions askedLong-term relationships informed consumers and researchersConsider juries as an effective, diverse set of mindsExpertise versus credentialsReflectionPodcast OutroPlease comment and ask questions:
Episode
Proem
In 2020, early in the COVID pandemic, I joined with several colleagues asking the questions:
How can the research industry help laypeople and communities find evidence-based guidance on how to live safely? Guidance that answers their questions when needed? Guidance that feels familiar and helpful. Guidance they trust. How can we be inclusive of our communities' awesome diversity? See the podcast episode here.
We spent several years exploring those questions, informing my passion for community-research partnerships. I highlight such partnerships as often as possible in my podcast. One of my primary advocacy goals is to promote research that answers questions the public and communities ask.
My guest today, Kathleen Noonan, is CEO of the Camden Coalition, a multidisciplinary, community-based nonprofit working to improve care for people with complex health and social needs in Camden, across New Jersey, and nationwide. They develop and test care management models and redesign systems in partnership with consumers, community members, health systems, community-based organizations, government agencies, payers, and more to achieve person-centered, equitable care.
Podcast intro
Welcome to Health Hats, the Podcast. I'm Danny van Leeuwen, a two-legged cisgender old white man of privilege who knows a little bit about a lot of healthcare and a lot about very little. We will listen and learn about what it takes to adjust to life's realities in the awesome circus of healthcare. Let's make some sense of all of this.
The fragility of health
Health Hats: Kathleen, thank you so much for joining us. I've been looking forward to this. When did you first realize health was fragile?
Kathleen Noonan: That's a great question. There are so many different answers to that. At some point as a kid, you realize that your parents aren't just older than you, but older adults don't stay around. When I was a kid, there was a girl on my block who passed away from pneumonia. It was an early developmental moment. But then, when did you realize that health is fragile because the healthcare system i...