KEY WASHINGTON HEALTH FOUNDATION STRATEGIC INITIATIVES:
EDUCATION AND THE LEARNING CENTER
Education has been a core tool of the Washington Health Foundation throughout its history. At one time, it was even in the name of the organization—the Washington State Hospital Education and Research Foundation.
The modern WHF’s efforts through education were centered on a series of major health forums. These were usually attended by hundreds of people at a session, and covered a broad range of health care and health topics. The Foundation held a series of conferences on certain topics- such as a Healthy Communities Symposia, Quality Conferences, two Physician Hospital Relationships Conference, several State Legislative Conference, and more.
Special topic conferences were also a mainstay of Foundation offerings. Attendance at these would range from 50 to 100 people, depending on topic and program approach. Many of these related to health care quality improvement topics for providers and other health care professional staff, including many profiled in WHF Major Project Summaries. Others might cover topics related to health access or policy concerns.
The Foundation also produced an assortment of educational manuals. Major products included a Physician-Hospital Organization manual, a Community Health Network Developer’s Guide, and a Managed Care for Rural Hospital Trustees Guide.
For several years, WHF’s focus on education led it to create and operate a Learning Center, providing a comprehensive set of educational offerings to providers and others. These included a large set of distance learning offerings provided in partnership with a national organization.
A constant thread through all of these offerings was the Foundation’s use of conferences and materials to express its values to attendees. It prided itself on providing education in an innovative way, and making sure that its offerings were unique, fun, and meaningful for attendees.