Lim Bernadette, Hahn Monica
Freedom Community Clinic, Oakland, CA, USA.
Glob Adv Integr Med Health. 2025 Jul 4;14:27536130251357522. doi: 10.1177/27536130251357522. eCollection 2025 Jan-Dec.
In this viewpoint, we discuss how culturally affirming, community-based interventions grounded in an integrative health equity framework are essential for the advancement of health equity for racial minorities and immigrant communities. Through a case study of Freedom Community Clinic and its initiatives, we demonstrate how culturally affirming, integrative healthcare models can further advance equitable outcomes in physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health and well-being for individuals and communities. The current landscape of persistent health disparities, particularly in chronic disease and limited healthcare access for racial minorities and immigrant communities, highlights the systemic inequities embedded in current healthcare structures. An integrative health equity approach is critical for addressing these inequities by sharing access to the benefits of complementary and ancestral medicines, particularly as low-risk and low-cost interventions for chronic disease. Cultural humility is critical for informing the practice of integrative health, as many healing practices categorized within integrative health have roots in the cultural traditions of racial and ethnic minorities and immigrant communities. Growing evidence suggests that investments in interventions that strengthen social ties and community networks can positively influence population-level health outcomes, including health behaviors. Freedom Community Clinic exemplifies a culturally affirming, community-based approach to integrative health with its Whole-Person Healing to the People model, which integrates six core components: ancestral and Indigenous healing, Western medicine, community healing, culture, community engagement, and social justice. This example emphasizes how integrative health equity approaches can create paradigm shifts in how we understand and deliver care, moving beyond the confines of a fragmented healthcare system toward one that truly serves communities that are most in need. Freedom Community Clinic and its Whole-Person Healing to the People model offers a promising framework for how healthcare can be re-envisioned as a tool for social justice, providing opportunities for all individuals to achieve optimal health.
在本文观点中，我们探讨了基于综合健康公平框架的文化肯定性、以社区为基础的干预措施对于促进少数族裔和移民社区的健康公平至关重要。通过对自由社区诊所及其举措的案例研究，我们展示了文化肯定性的综合医疗模式如何能够进一步推动个人和社区在身体、心理、情感和精神健康及福祉方面的公平成果。当前持续存在的健康差距状况，尤其是少数族裔和移民社区在慢性病方面以及医疗服务获取有限的问题，凸显了当前医疗结构中所固有的系统性不平等。综合健康公平方法对于解决这些不平等至关重要，它通过共享补充性和祖传药物的益处，特别是作为慢性病的低风险和低成本干预措施。文化谦逊对于指导综合健康实践至关重要，因为综合健康中归类的许多治疗方法都源于少数族裔和移民社区的文化传统。越来越多的证据表明，对加强社会联系和社区网络的干预措施进行投资可以对人群层面的健康结果产生积极影响，包括健康行为。自由社区诊所通过其“全民整体康复”模式体现了一种文化肯定性、以社区为基础的综合健康方法，该模式整合了六个核心要素：祖传和本土治疗、西医、社区治疗、文化、社区参与和社会正义。这个例子强调了综合健康公平方法如何能够在我们理解和提供护理的方式上引发范式转变——从碎片化医疗系统的局限中走出来，迈向一个真正服务于最有需求社区的系统。自由社区诊所及其“全民整体康复”模式为如何将医疗保健重新构想为社会正义工具提供了一个有前景的框架，为所有人提供实现最佳健康的机会。
