The SA Forward Plan presents the strategic direction for the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (SAMHD) to protect and improve the health of our community so that all people thrive in healthy safe communities. The SA Forward Plan strengthens our foundational capabilities to work in new ways to deepen our impact. Over the next five years, Metro Health will focus our efforts on the following six priority areas.
- Access to Care
- Data and Technology Infrastructure
- Food Insecurity and Nutrition
- Health Equity and Social Justice
- Mental Health and Community Resilience
- Violence Prevention
SA Forward Plan(PDF, 7MB)
Dashboard
Metro Health launched a new dashboard designed in partnership with mySidewalk. This new dashboard tells the story of our communities’ most pressing challenges and health issues and gives San Antonio residents insights into the social and economic drivers of health.
This interactive platform provides access to over 50 data indicators and allows residents to stay informed about how social determinants health and the burden of disease are affecting their neighborhoods. The graphs and maps are available for download to the media and public.
SA Forward Dashboard
Priority Areas
Access to Care
Access to affordable, quality health care is important to physical, social, and mental health. The initiatives in this priority area will address systemic barriers to patient-centered health care. Initiatives include:
- Conducting an assessment to understand how Access to Care has changed under COVID-19.
- Developing a Community Health Worker hub to unite and train health navigators across San Antonio.
- Establishing Clinician Ambassadors to visit healthcare providers and promote evidence-based public health practices.
- Establishing a medicolegal partnership to prevent and decrease medical debt.
Provider Resource Guide
Data & Technology Infrastructure
Updated technology and infrastructure are essential to ensuring a strong foundational workforce, robust infrastructure and advanced technological services, software, and equipment. Initiatives include:
- Enhancing technological infrastructure to support infectious disease reporting and investigations.
- Expanding informatics across the department.
- Implementing a unified approach to data analysis and presentation.
- Improving our capacity to conduct next generation genomic sequencing on infectious diseases of high consequence.
Food Insecurity & Nutrition
Food systems are a complex web of activities involving production, processing, transport, and consumption. A food systems approach identifies, analyzes, and assesses the impact of the systems’ actors, activities, and outcomes to help identify intervention points to addressing food insecurity. Increasing access to healthy foods can help prevent obesity and diabetes. Initiatives include:
- Serving as the backbone organization for the San Antonio Food Systems Collaborative.
- Collaborating to produce a State of the Food Systems Report.
- Expanding Viva Health and Por Vida using a Community Health Worker Model.
- Creating a community-based education campaign.
- Expanding our peer-led diabetes prevention initiative.
- Expanding our Healthy Neighborhoods initiative.
- Growing our Healthy Corner Store program.
Health Equity & Social Justice
The initiatives in this priority area are cross-cutting and are intended to strengthen the City's ecosystem by addressing structural racism and other factors such as the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) that impact the health and wellbeing of all. Initiatives include:
- Expanding the Metro Health Office of Health Equity.
- Implementing the Equity Action Plan.
- Implementing the actions articulated in the Declaration of Racism as a Public Health Crisis.
- Developing and providing training on antiracist practices and policies for local healthcare systems.
- Establishing the Office of Policy and Civic Engagement (PaCE).
The first ever health equity symposium was held in San Antonio on September 23, 2022. This in-person event convened City departments, community-based organizations, and community members to discuss the status of health equity in San Antonio. The event featured Dr. Camara Jones and Dr. Amelie Ramirez as the plenary speakers.
- Dr. Camera Jones
- Dr. Amelie Ramirez
Mental Health & Community Resilience
Mental health problems constitute a large and increasing part of the burden of disease in our community. As such, improving the coordination of mental health services by strengthening community assets to ensure emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing for people and communities is essential. Initiatives include:
- Establishing an Office of Mental Health within the department.
- Working in coordination with San Antonio Police Department and San Antonio Fire Department to implement a Multidisciplinary Response Team (MDRT) mental health pilot program.
- Expanding access to cognitive behavioral therapy for child survivors of violence.
- Expanding the Project Worth Teen Ambassador Program to incorporate Social-Emotional learning (SEL).
Violence Prevention
Violence is an urgent public health problem. From infants to the elderly, it affects people in all stages of life and can lead to a lifetime of physical, emotional, and economic problems. Metro Health is committed to preventing violence so that everyone can be safe and healthy. Initiatives include:
- Significantly expanding our Domestic Violence Prevention program.
- Establishing a citywide Center of Excellence in Trauma Informed Care.
- Expanding our Stand –Up SA program to include the Westside of San Antonio.
- Expanding the service area of the Triple P Parenting Education Program.
- Enhancing Trauma Informed Practices in the Justice System (Year 2).
To successfully implement these expanded and new initiatives, we have added to our Operations Team with the goal of streamlining operational efficiencies to minimize wear and tear on staff and stakeholders, enhancing staff communication and engagement, expanding opportunities for staff growth and development and positioning Metro Health to attain continued accreditation in 2024 by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB).
It is with great enthusiasm that I present the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (Metro Health) SA Forward Blueprint for 2021-2026. Building upon our prior strategic plan, which took a community-informed approach to identify our most pressing health issues, SA Forward responds to pandemic-related lessons learned around health disparities, social justice, public health capacity, and the state of the public health workforce. With today’s challenges, there is an increasing urgency for creative solutions and transformation in public health departments.
The team at Metro Health takes the challenges facing San Antonio and Bexar County seriously. We are committed to engaging and addressing these challenges through a coordinated and strategic approach. To our past strategic priority areas of Access to Care, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)/Trauma-Informed Care, Nutrition, and Violence Prevention, SA Forward adds Data and Technology Infrastructure, Health Equity and Social Justice, and Mental Health and Community Resilience. We have expanded our Nutrition priority area to Food Insecurity and Nutrition. These strategic priorities incorporate the department’s core strengths, identify areas of improvement, and address external trends.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed cracks in our nation’s public health system, spotlighting the need for consistent, long-term investments in public health infrastructure, workforce development, capacity building for strategic partnerships, and policy change. This explains our rationale for including workforce development, capacity building, policy work, and operational excellence in our Data and Technology Infrastructure priority area. Historically, boom-and-bust funding cycles have been the norm for public health, but the City’s commitment to SA Forward moves us away from this and allows us to make sustained progress.
The COVID-19 pandemic, in conjunction with increased awareness about systemic racism, has challenged our community and department, further exposing how far we must go before we realize our vision of healthy people thriving in a healthy community. City Council responded by voting to officially declare racism a public health crisis in San Antonio, closely mirroring the American Public Health Association’s national declaration. In San Antonio and Bexar County, the historic and present struggles of Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic/Latino communities add to this weight. The City Council declaration repeatedly highlights racial and ethnic disparities in socioeconomic standings, health, and livelihood now magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic. The way forward—led by the City’s Office of Equity and Metro Health’s Office of Health Equity—includes disaggregating data and promoting racially-equitable city services, programs, and policies.
A community-driven approach is instrumental. Just as we must take a top-down approach to equity through leadership and policies that dismantle racism, we also must have an approach from the ground up, strengthening, supporting, and mobilizing our communities to be a part of the effort.
Whether you are a community member, a community partner, or a member of Metro Health staff, we appreciate your interest in learning more about our 2021-2026 SA Forward strategic plan. We hope you see yourself in this SA Forward Blueprint and we invite you to join us in its implementation.
Sincerely,
Claude A. Jacob, MPH Signature