Glossary – FCHES

AC- Administrative Core: Provides leadership for the Center’s overall strategic planning including scientific leadership and oversight using a community-based approach and the core principles of community based participatory research.
ACA- Affordable Care Act: Nickname; Obamacare- A United States federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010.
ADA- Americans with Disability Act: A civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the public.
AIDS- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome: A syndrome caused by a virus called HIV. Acquired means that people are not born with the disease. They get it after being infected with the HIV virus. Syndrome is a collection of symptoms, or problems in the body.
AHA- American Hospital Association: The national organization that represents and serves all types of hospital, health care networks and their patients and communities.
AHP- Analytic Hierarchy Process: A structured technique for organizing and analyzing complex decisions based on mathematics and psychology. Developed by Thomas L. Saaty in the 1970’s.
APEXPH- Assessment Protocol for Excellence in Public Health: A flexible planning tool developed for local health officials to: Assess the organization and management of the health department; Establish the leadership role of the health department in the community.
APHA- American Public Health Association: A Washington, D.C. based professional organization for public health professionals in the United States.
APHL- Association of Public Health Laboratories: APHL works to build effective laboratory systems in the US and globally. The association represents state and local governmental health labs that monitor and detect public health treats.
Biomarkers (FASt): A measurable health indicator. (E.g. body temperature is a biomarker for infection, blood pressure is a biomarker for heart disease).
Biorepository (FASt): A location that collects, processes, stores biological samples (e.g. urine, blood, or saliva).
Block Face (FASt): One side of a segment of a street in between two intersections
CASPER- Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response: An epidemiologic technique designed to provide quickly and at low cost household-based information about a community.
CBA- Community Based Agency: A private nonprofit organization (including a church or other religious entity) that is a representative of a community or a significant segment of a community and is engaged in meeting human, educational, environmental, or public safety community needs.
CBPHC-Community Based Public Health Caucus: Guided by the belief that Community lies at the heart of public health, and that interventions work best when they are rooted in values, knowledge, expertise, and interests of the community itself.
CBO- Community Based Organization: A public or private nonprofit organization that is representative of a community or a significant segment of a community and works to meet community needs.
CBOP- Community Based Organization Partners: An umbrella organization comprised of CBOs (Community Based Organizations) whose united task is to educate, train, research and mobilize underrepresented, underserved, and under-resourced grass root communities to achieve equity in health and social justice priorities.
CBPR- Community Based Participatory Research: A partnership approach to research that equitably involves, for example, community members, organizational representatives, and researchers in all aspects of the research process and in which all partners contribute expertise and share decision making and ownership.
CC- Church Challenge: Mission is to support healthy living environments and improve the health of the Flint community, with a focus on effective blood pressure management.
CCAT- Community Coalition Action Theory: A community coalition is a structured arrangement where all members can work together on a common goal and objective. The community coalition is represented by individuals and organizations which come together long term, even after a goal has been achieved.
CD: Core Directors
CDC- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: A federal agency that conducts and supports health promotion, prevention and preparedness activities in the United States, with the goal of improving overall public health.
Census Block Group (FASt): A physical unit in a city that contains multiple streets and homes from which data will be collected. A city consists of multiple census block groups.
CERB- Community Ethics Review Board: The purpose of the CERB is to serve as a safety net to ensure that research conducted in the community id ethically safe, morally sound, and provides equal benefit to the community.
CH- Community Health: A field within public health concerned with the study and improvement of the health of biological communities.
CHA- Community Health Assessment: Refers to state, tribal, local, or territorial health assessment that identifies key health needs and issues through systematic, comprehensive data collection and analysis.
CHIP- Children’s Health Insurance Program: A program administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides matching funds to states for health insurance to families with children.
CHNA- Community Health Needs Assessment: Community health needs assessments and implementation strategies are newly required of tax-exempt hospitals as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
CHOW: Community Health Outreach Workers
CHW- Community Health Workers: Frontline public health workers who have a close understanding of the community they serve
CMS- Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services: A federal agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services that administers the Medicare Program and works in partnership with state governments to administer Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and health insurance portability standards.
COI- Conflict of Interest: A situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, in situations where serving one the interests could involve working against one of the other interests.
CPC- Community Partnership Consortium: The purpose is to serve as a focal point to organize and strengthen meaningful relationships with a broad cross-section of stakeholders focused on health disparities and health equity.
CSC: Center Steering Committee
DC- Data Collector: The process of gathering and measuring information on targeted variables in an established systematic fashion, which then enables one to answer relevant questions and evaluate outcomes.
DHHS- Department of Health and Human Services: To enhance and protect the health and well-being of all Americans. Providing effective health and human services and fostering advances in medicine, public health and social services.
DISC- Dissemination and Implementation Science Core: Focuses on studying how to disseminate and implement evidence-based practices in communities in a way that is feasible, acceptable, and useful.
Disparity: a great difference.
DSMB- Data Safety Monitoring Board: Also known as the Data Monitoring Committee (DMC); an independent group of experts who monitor patient safety and treatment efficacy data while a clinical trial is ongoing.
EMS- Emergency Medical Services: A type of emergency service dedicated to providing out-of-hospital acute medical care, transport to definitive care, and other medical transport to patient with illnesses and injuries which prevent the patient from transporting themselves.
Environmental Assessments (FASt): Finding signs of social- and physical-environmental order and disorder of block faces
EPA- Environmental Protection Agency: An agency of the United States federal government whose mission is to protect human and environmental health.
Epigenetics (FASt): the study of environmental influences on our genes (e.g. what individual eats, where they live, who they interact with, and how much they exercise changes his or her genes)
Equality: the state of being equal, especially in status, rights, and opportunities’ an organization aiming to promote racial equality
Equity: the quality of being fair and impartial.
ERP- Emergency Response Plan: The actions taken in the initial minutes of an emergency are critical. A prompt warning to employees to evacuate, shelter or lockdown can save lives.
ESL- English as a Second language: A traditional term for the use of study of the English language by non-native speakers in an English-speaking environment.
FACHEP- Flint Area Community Health and Environment Partnership: Experts from all three University Research Corridor (URC) institutions were asked to scientifically evaluate the possible association between the changes in Flint drinking water quality and the prevalence of diseases and other possible medical conditions.
FASt- Flint Area Study: A resource of comprehensive public health data. Resources will include information about environmental exposures, physical measures, biological samples and behavioral survey responses.
FCHES- Flint Center for Health Equity Solutions: Focuses its research efforts on health disparities and chronic disease that cross boundaries and directly affect the Flint and Genesee County Community.
FDA- Food and Drug Administration: A federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments.
FFS- Fee for Service: A payment model where services are unbundled and paid for separately. In health care, it gives an incentive for physicians to provide more treatments because payment is dependent on the quantity of care, rather than quality of care.
FEMA- Federal Emergency Management Agency: The agency’s primary purpose is to coordinate the response to a disaster that has occurred in the United States and that overwhelms the resources of local and state authorities.
FGHI: Flint Geospatial Healthfulness Index
FOHI: Flint Odyssey House
FQHC- Federally Qualified Health Center: A reimbursement designation from the Bureau of Primary Health Care and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
FWE: Flint Water Emergency
FWICC- Flint Water Interagency Coordinating Committee: Wide range of experts working on long term solutions to the Flint water situation and ongoing public health concerns affecting residents.
GCBOC- Genesee County Board of Commissioners: The governing board and policy-making body of County government.
GCBOH: Genesee County Board of Health
GCCARD- Genesee County Community Action Resource Department: An organization of individuals whose overall goal is to eliminate barriers and level the playing field for the poor, seniors, children and the hard to serve population of Flint and Genesee County.
GCFMC: Genesee County Free Medical Clinic
GCHD: Genesee County Health Department
GCMS: Genesee County Medical Society
GFHC- Greater Flint Health Coalition: A 501(c)3 designated non-profit healthcare coalition- a true partnership between healthcare providers and purchasers, consumers and committed citizens, government leaders, insurers, educators and all those concerned about the well-being of our community and its residents.
GHP- Genesee Health Plan: Genesee County’s plan for better health which began with the vision to have a community where each person has equal and affordable opportunity to live a healthy life.
GHS- Genesee Health System: Genesee County’s public mental health provider.
GHP- Genesee Health Plan: Genesee County’s plan for better health, which began with the vision to have a community where each person has equal and affordable opportunity to live a healthy life.
GIS- Geographic Information Systems: A system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present spatial or geographic data.
HAN- Health Alert Network: The CDC’s primary method of sharing cleared information about urgent public health incidents with public information officers; federal, state, territorial, tribal, and local public health practitioners; clinicians; and public health laboratories.
HCO: Healthcare Organization
HIPAA- Health Insurance Privacy and Accountability Act: A federal law enacted in 1996 that protects continuity of health coverage when a person changes or loses a job, that limits health-plan exclusions for preexisting medical conditions, that require that patient medical information be kept private and secure.
HIV- Human Immunodeficiency Virus: A virus that attacks the immune system, the body’s natural defense system. Without a strong immune system, the body has trouble fighting off disease. Both the virus and the infection cause HIV.
HFRCC- Healthy Flint Research Coordinating Center: The Center aids in coordinating research conducted in Flint to minimize duplicated efforts across local universities, increase community voice in the face of government mistrust, and ensure ethical community involvement.
HRSA- Health Resources and Services Administration: An agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is the primary federal agency for improving health care to people who are geographically isolated, economically or medically vulnerable.
HSLG: Health Systems Learning Group
HUD- Housing and Urban Development: Administers programs that provide housing and community development assistance.
Intergenerational (FASt): Focused on the influence that people of different age categories (e.g. youth, adult, and older adult) have on one another
IOM- Institute of Medicine: A nonprofit organization established in 1970 as a component of the US National Academy of Sciences that works outside the framework of government to provide evidence-based research and recommendations or public health and science.
IRB- Institutional Review Board: A type of committee that applies research ethics by reviewing the methods proposed for research to ensure that they are ethical.
IRC- Internal Revenue Code: A domestic portion of federal statutory tax law in the United States published in various volumes of the United States Statutes at Large, separately as Title 26 of the United States Code.
IRS- Internal Revenue Service: A bureau of the Department of Treasury that is tasked with the enforcement of income tax laws and oversees the collection of federal income taxes.
JCAHO- Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations: An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission accredits and certifies nearly 21,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States.
LHD: Local Health Department
Longitudinal study (FASt): Data is gathered from the same sources or people repeatedly over a period of time.
MAPP- Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships: A community driven strategic planning process for improving community health. Facilitated by public health leaders, this framework helps communities apply strategic thinking to prioritize public health issues and identify resources to address them.
MCDA- Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis: A sub-discipline of operations research that explicitly evaluates multiple conflicting criteria in decision making (both in daily life and in settings such as business, government and medicine).
MDCH- Michigan Department of Community Health: Responsible for the development of state health policy and management of the states publicly funded health service system.
MCH: Maternal and Child Health
MI- Michigan: A state in the Great Lakes and Midwestern regions of the United States
MOA- Memorandum of Agreement: A written document describing a cooperative relationship between two parties wishing to work together on a project or to meet an agreed upon objective.
MOU- Memorandum of Understanding: An agreement between two or more parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action.
MSU CHM- Michigan State University- College of Human Medicine: An academic division of Michigan State University grants the Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree.
MMWR- Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: A weekly epidemiological digest for the United States published by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It is the main vehicle for publishing public health information and recommendations that have been received by the CDC from state health departments.
Multigenerational (FASt): Involving individuals from several generations
NAA: Needs and Assets Assessment
NACCHO- National Association of County and City Health Officials: DC-based organization representing 2,800 local public health departments in the U.S. These city, county, metropolitan, district and tribal departments work to protect and promote health and well-being for all people in their communities by coordinating programs and services that make it easier for people to be healthy and safe from public health emergencies.
NAPHSIS- National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems: A nonprofit organization representing the state vital records and public health statistics offices in the United States.
NCBON- National Community Based Organization Network: Brings community-based organizations (CBOs) and their members into a national network to enhance capacities to 1) partner with universities /agencies within their neighborhoods and broader communities to promote health; and 2) to act collectively to influence decision-making and policy at national level.
NEDSS- National Electronic Disease Surveillance System: An integrated information system that helps local, state, and territorial public health departments manage reportable disease data and send notifiable disease data to CDC.
NER- National Exposure Registry: Created as a comprehensive group of data repositories that sought, over time, to relate specific environmental exposures to dioxin, trichloroethylene(TCE), benzene, and trichloroethane (TCA) to registrants’ health conditions
NIfETy: Neighborhood Inventory for Environmental Typology (FASt)
NIMHD- National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities: A leader in increasing the scientific community’s focus on non-biological factors such as socioeconomics, politics, discrimination, culture, and environment in relation to health disparities.
NIH- National Institutes of Health: A part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is the nation’s medical research agency making important discoveries that improve health and save lives
NPHPSP- National Public Health Performance Standards Program: A collaborative effort of seven national partners to enhance the Nation’s public health systems.
NPHLI- National Public Health Leadership Institute: Aims to develop collaborative leaders and to strengthen networks of leaders who share knowledge and jointly address public health problems.
ODPHP- Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion: Provide leadership for disease prevention and health promotion among Americans.
OSHA- Occupational Safety and Health Administration: An agency of the United States Department of Labor. OHSA’s mission is to assure safe and healthy working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and providing training, outreach, education and assistance.
PI- Principle Investigator: The person(s) in charge of a clinical trial or scientific research grant. Prepares and carries out the clinical trial protocol (plan for the study) or research paid for by the grant.
PHAB- Public Health Accreditation Board: A nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the continuous quality improvement of Tribal, state, local, and territorial public health departments
PHF- Public Health Foundation: A private, non-profit, 501(c)3 organization based in Washington, DC, improves public health and population health practice to support healthier communities.
PPACA- Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: ( also known as the Affordable Care Act) A United States federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010.
Probability (FASt): The likelihood that something will happen. All people in a census block group have the same probability (or same likelihood) of being selected to participate in the study due to the process of random sampling.
QOL- Quality of Life: The general well-being of individuals and societies, outlining negative and positive features of life
Random Sampling (FASt): 10 streets (Random sample) being chosen out of a hat from a list of 20 streets (population). Same process is completed for each census block group.
Resilience (FASt): The ability to recover from difficulties
RWJF- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: The United States largest philanthropy focused solely on health. The foundation’s goal, through the use of grants, is to improve the health and health care of all Americans.
SBA: Small Business Association
Scouting (FASt): Identifying homes with people living in them
SDOH- Social Determinants of Health: The SDOH are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels.
SEPA- Science Education Partnership Award: The goal of the SEPA program is to invest in educational activities, including interactive digital media resources, that complement or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nation’s biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs.
SFF- Strengthening Flint Families: A community- based behavioral intervention designed to reduce behavioral disparities and improve family resilience in Flint.
SPSP- Society for Personality and Social Psychology: The mission is to advance the science, teaching, and application of social and personality psychology.
SSA- Social Security Administration: An independent agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors’ benefits.
SSL-Spanish as a Second Language: The learning or teaching of the Spanish language for those whose first language is not Spanish
STI- Sexually Transmitted Infection: Also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and venereal diseases (VD) are infections that are commonly spread by sexual activity.
STD- Sexually Transmitted Disease: Infections passed from one person to another through sexual contact
STYH- Speak to Your Health Community Survey: This project examines a wide range of issues related to individual and community health in Genesee County, Michigan.
Targeted Household (FASt): Household was invited to participate in study
TCC: Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center
VBP: Value Based Purchasing
VUCA: Volatile/Unpredictable/Complex/and Ambiguous
WIC- Women, Infants, and Children: Provides Federal grants to States for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk.