The Area Health Education Center for Western Washington is proud to partner with the Washington Healthcare Access Alliance to release the 2021 Washington State Primary Care Needs Assessment (PCNA).  

This report provides an overview of primary care capacity in Washington and identifies priorities for programming and legislation. An advisory committee of diverse area experts was consulted in regard to structure, content, and sources. Data included were collected from a wide range of public, private, and for-profit and nonprofit partners in the fields of healthcare, economics, education, and social services. 

The full report is available here.

The Special Populations section highlighting communities that experience health disparities is also available as an individual excerpt. 

PCNA development was supported by the Washington State Department of Health Primary Care Office.

AHECWW offers Mental Health First Aid trainings for professionals and community members throughout western Washington.

The Palliative Care Institute at Western Washington University participated in the Northwest Life Passages Coalition to draft a blueprint to transform palliative care in Whatcom County and support our human responses to living and dying. The Institute's goal is to create a healing community by providing a space where people living with serious illnesses or facing the end of life don’t have to be cured to heal.

Washington State Department of Health provides educational resources on a wide range of health-related topics in categories such as you & your Family, community & environment, emergencies, and public health.

The National Institute of Health's All of Us Research Program is accelerating research advances and precision medicine. Their nationwide community of participants and researchers partner together to ensure that everyone is included in research. The information participants generously share is fueling thousands of studies to better understand health and disease and enable more tailored and equitable approaches to care. 

The AoU Research Program is a historic effort to collect and study data from one million or more people living in the United States. The goal of the program is better health for all of us. The All of Us Research Program is a historic effort to securely collect and study data from one million or more people living in the United States. The goal of the program is better health for all of us.  

Learn how to get involved as a participant and/or researcher.

The Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB) features Celebrating Our Magic, a toolkit for American Indian/Alaska Native youth who identify as transgender and Two-Spirit, their relatives, and healthcare providers. The goal of the publication is to increase access to healthcare and reduce disparities among transgender youth and to increase awareness and capacity among tribal healthcare providers.

Depression and Anxiety among Latinos: Urgent Call for Mental Health Services - This survey study provides important data regarding the prevalence of likely major depression and likely general anxiety disorder and identifies factors that are related to and contributing to a higher prevalence of these two disorders. Along with presenting the salient findings, it makes key policy recommendations that, if implemented, will make a transformative difference in promoting the access and utilization of culturally and linguistically responsive mental health services to urban and rural Latinos in Washington state.

The Latino Center for Health is a state-funded interdisciplinary research center at the University of Washington. Housed administratively at the School of Social Work, the center conducts community-engaged research through capacity building and authentic partnerships with community stakeholders to promote the health and well-being of Latino communities in Washington state.

If a child has Medicaid and needs assistance with activities of daily living beyond what their same-age peers require, they can qualify for personal care. This is called the Specialized Case Load at Developmental Disabilities Administration. Find out more on the basics on Personal Care Services here.

The National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health (NOSORH) has developed a compendium of all Rural Opioid Educational Resources available at their website to aid individuals looking for education, tools, and other resources. This includes reports, webinar presentations, meeting presentations, and a compendium of resources and lessons learned from grantees of the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy’s Rural Opioid Overdose Reversal (ROOR) grant program. As new resources become available, more information will be added.

Confident Action and Referral by Educators (CARE) is a web-based course to provide educators and other school staff guidance to help students who may be going through difficult times. The program is designed to give educators the tools and confidence to identify students who may be at risk for emotional or behavioral distress, including suicide, substance use, violence, and sexual abuse. The course is a free, one-hour, online module that meets the criteria set forth by RCW 28A.320.127 which requires educators receive training on how to recognize and respond to students experiencing emotional or behavioral distress. CARE may be taken individually or in a group, and a Facilitator Guide is provided to guide staff through the specific examples, discussion questions, additional resources, and role play exercises.