Advancing Health Equity
As a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, Fred Hutch Cancer Center is committed to partnering with our community to create longer, healthier and richer lives for our patients and everyone living in our service area. The work we do in the community is an extension of our core mission.
By engaging with our community, through partnerships with local organizations, education and prevention programs for community members and financial assistance for our patients who need support, Fred Hutch aims to make our care and expertise accessible to the broader population.
Our Community Benefit priorities are informed by the 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and the 2021/2022 King County Joint Community Health Needs Assessment, published by Fred Hutch and 10 other hospitals as part of the King County Hospitals for a Healthier Community (KCHHC) collaborative. These assessments are conducted every three years and provide us with a deeper understanding of the impact of cancer on our region.
For our work to improve cancer-related population health outcomes in Fred Hutch’s service area, we define our community as everyone in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. This three-county area is where most of our patients live, where our recognition is highest and where we believe we can make some of our greatest impacts.
Fred Hutch’s current Community Benefit activities are organized around our 2022-2025 Community Benefit Strategic Implementation Plan, which outlines our goals and objectives for addressing the community’s cancer-related health needs.
2022-2025 Priority Areas
Address our organization’s entrenched social inequities associated with race, ethnicity, language, cultural norms and education to move to a system where every person has the opportunity to attain their full health potential.
- Improve language access and culturally relevant resources
- Build cultural responsiveness and internal capacity in equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism
- Improve access to clinical trials for underrepresented patients
- Strengthen the capacity of community-based organizations
- Enhance the ability to analyze data at a granular level to better understand the burden of cancer
- Improve knowledge of concordant cancer care among health care and allied health providers and students
Providing Culturally Attuned Prevention, Education and Screening
Promote knowledge of healthy lifestyles and regular cancer screenings to decrease the prevalence and severity of cancer with a focus on marginalized and BIPOC communities.
- Collaborate with community-based organizations, tribal nations and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) to increase breast, lung and prostate cancer education and screenings.
Delivering Access to Affordable and Attainable Comprehensive Care
Improve access to high-quality cancer care along the cancer care continuum and to wraparound services that improve health
- Prioritize public health education and advance policies seeking to reduce barriers to care
- Improve socio-economic factors that prevent patients from accessing care and keep them from attaining their full health potential
- Enhance access to mental health care for cancer patients, families and the community