Director of Mission at Make-A-Wish Iowa and Mid-Iowa Health Foundation HealthConnect Fellow
(April 2022-September 2023)
Bellville started the Fellowship in the role of Executive Director of Prevent Child Abuse Iowa
Encourage the development of a statewide system that helps families navigate access to resources prior to crisis
Through participating on multiple boards and committees as the Executive Director of Prevent Child Abuse Iowa, Bellville became aware of a shared understanding that families struggle to access resources, which leads to increased involvement in the child welfare, judicial, and health care systems. State assessments and plans identified the need for a strategic, cohesive approach to helping families navigate systems and connect with services before more serious interventions. Bellville focused his fellowship campaign on meeting with decision makers, influencers, and champions to learn what was being done to move toward a one-stop place where families could turn, versus having to engage with various people and programs to access services through multiple, disconnected entry points.
In conversations and research, Bellville found an opportunity to elevate the work of community health workers — individuals who are often of the communities they serve and can help people navigate health care and social service systems to connect with resources that improve their well-being. While Bellville discovered numerous stakeholders were interested in a statewide approach to supporting these positions, the work currently is implemented in a patchwork way through multiple organizations and programs. Many people are assuming community health work responsibilities on top of full-time jobs or as volunteers. For example, Bellville discovered at a Community Health Worker Alliance meeting more than 80 organizations in Iowa utilized nearly 300 community health workers under more than 100 different job titles, representing the lack of a consistent approach and standard for the position.
Bellville advocated within the boards and committees he served on and with decision makers at the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (Iowa HHS) to prioritize a statewide approach to supporting community health workers. While many people were interested in the idea, the Iowa HHS alignment process occurred simultaneously and took priority over peoples’ collaborative efforts. Bellville also transitioned to a new position and was no longer immersed in the same groups he’d worked with regarding the community health worker roles. Bellville collaborated with a researcher to identify community health worker models and practices that could be replicated, scaled, and advocated for, and Prevent Child Abuse Iowa is working to publish the recommendations on its website.
Over time, Bellville heard language within his networks shift from “needing to make it easier for people to navigate access to services,” to “there should be no wrong doors for people to access services,” to “the goal should be having one front door for a family to access the services they need.” Prevent Child Abuse America’s updated theory of change includes some of the ideas Bellville offered, such as making sure families have the resources they need prior to crisis and that organizations and advocates working to address issues need to pursue promising ideas before exhaustive and conclusive research that the ideas will work.
Bellville found, while there is a desire for a coordinated approach to supporting community health workers in a way that would allow families to have one point of entry to navigate state systems, steps have not yet been taken. Multiple state departments integrated community health work into work plans but have not yet coordinated that work across divisions. Bellville hopes the research he completed will provide a resource to those who want to learn more and to advocate for changes that will move closer to that coordinated goal.
