COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER OF BUFFALO, INC.
community health center of buffalo, inc.
Health Equity
About Us
The Office of Health Equity (OHE) at the Community Health Center of Buffalo, Inc. is a community-driven initiative to actively engage in eliminating health disparities where residents in the communities we serve live, work, play, and learn. We focus on data and community stories to help identify – and service – those impacted by inequalities affecting their social determinants of health. OHE commits its efforts to ensure there are no barriers to high-quality care for marginalized groups including BIPOC, LGBTQ+, persons with disabilities, etc. who routinely face a higher degree of racism and systemic oppression. High-quality care includes collaboration, innovation, and shared services between healthcare and community-based organizations.
What Is Health Equity?
‘Health Equity’ is the absence of disparities or avoidable differences among socioeconomic and demographic groups or geographical areas in health status and health outcomes such as disease, disability, or mortality. (HRSA 2022)
Our Mission:
To use stories and measurable data to identify health inequities, reduce health disparities, and advance Health Equity for Erie and Niagara Counties, through integrated, coordinated, and high-quality patient and family-centered care.
Our Vision:
To improve the day-to-day lives of the communities and residents we serve and create individualized access to culturally-centered care to improve health and wellness.
Health Equity Values:
- Anti-Racist
- Social Justice
- Intersectional
- Cultural Humility
- Wellness
Contact Information:
Rahsaan DeLain M.S.
Executive Director COPE WNY/ Project Coordinator Health Equity
Community Health Center of Buffalo, Inc.
34 Benwood Ave. Buffalo NY 14214
716-986-9199 ext. 8019 | [email protected]
Rahsaan H. DeLain M.S.
Rahsaan Delain is Executive Director Collaboration on Poverty Elimination Western New York (COPE WNY)/Project Coordinator-Health Equity, Community Health Center of Buffalo, Inc.
“I will be primarily responsible for working both internally and externally to build CHCB’s capacity for expanding community partnerships through building coalitions,” said Rahsaan. “These efforts will be to address health inequities and systemic racism in social care access, delivery, and outcomes.”
Rahsaan holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the State University of New York at Buffalo; and a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from St. John Fisher University in Rochester, NY.
He is a Doctoral Candidate completing a PhD in Counseling and Counselor Education at Syracuse University where his teaching, clinical, and research focus is on equity, anti-racism, and social justice in school and mental health counseling. Rahsaan is a faculty at St. John Fisher University in the Graduate Clinical Mental Health Counseling program in the Wegmans School of Nursing.
Prior to joining CHCB, Inc., Rahsaan served as the Diversity and Inclusion Manager for the Diversity and Inclusion Office at Kaleida Health. Prior to Kaleida, he was an Assistant Director for the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) in Rochester NY, working in Juvenile Justice and Community Engagement, while leading statewide OCFS Race, Equity, and LGBTQ+ strategy.