{"id":1953,"date":"2012-08-15T11:21:39","date_gmt":"2012-08-15T15:21:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=1953"},"modified":"2012-08-15T11:21:39","modified_gmt":"2012-08-15T15:21:39","slug":"vision-cafe-opens-eyes-to-coatesvilles-potential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=1953","title":{"rendered":"Vision Cafe opens eyes to Coatesville’s potential"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ideas for improving community’s health shared at Brandywine Health Foundation forum<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/strong>, Managing Editor, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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About 170 participants offered feedback to the Brandywine Health Foundation at its Vision Cafe.<\/p><\/div>\n

They came, they conversed — and they conquered some hurdles to improving the health of the greater Coatesville community.<\/p>\n

The din at last night\u2019s well-attended Vision Caf\u00e9 rivaled that of a high-school lunch period \u2013 fitting since the two-hour event was held in the Coatesville Area\u00a0 Senior High cafeteria.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just told that you never escape cafeteria duty,\u201d joked Harry Lewis, who retired in 2006 as CASH principal and now heads the board of the Brandywine Health Foundation, which sponsored the gathering.<\/p>\n

About 170 people representing a diverse cross-section of government workers, citizens, businesses and nonprofit agencies responded to the public invitation to provide feedback to the foundation, input that will help shape future programs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dolores s. Colligan, deputy director of the county’s Department of Community Development, added brightness to an already colorful event by writing comments with an orange marker that matched her outfit.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cAll of you obviously care about our community and we thank you for coming,\u201d said Lewis. \u201cThis evening we are asking for your help \u2026 We can\u2019t do it alone. We need you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis then turned the program over to Jason Alexander and Meghan McVety, co-founders of \u00a0Capacity for Change, a West Chester-based consultant. Alexander outlined the format: Participants in groups of four or five would respond to a question written on a display board in the front of the room, interrupting the exchanges periodically to jot notes on the paper tablecloths dotting the long cafeteria tables.<\/p>\n

When Alexander signaled that the discussion was over, people would be asked to relocate and repeat the process with another question in a new group.<\/p>\n

Alexander said the questions, created in concert with the foundation, were designed to spark spirited dialogue, which they did. They ranged from identifying the present and future role of the Brandywine Health Foundation\u00a0 to suggesting ways to\u00a0 eliminate health-care disparities based on race, income, age or gender to exploring opportunities to engage more people, businesses and groups in the quest to achieve a healthier community.<\/p>\n

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Harry Lewis, board chairman for the Brandywine Health Foundation, confers with Chaya Scott, who runs the foundation’s Coatesville Youth Initiative, during the event.<\/p><\/div>\n

As the program unfolded, the audience needed no nudging, quickly turning the room into a hub of\u00a0 energetic gestures and chatter. Business cards and telephone numbers were exchanged, and ideas made their way onto the tablecloths.<\/p>\n

Alexander said the tablecloths as well as comment cards that were distributed would be collected and mined for key themes and innovative ideas. That \u00a0data would then be shared with the foundation, he said, adding that it was exciting to work with an organization so committed to community involvement.<\/p>\n

At the conclusion of the program, Frances Sheehan, president and chief executive officer of the Brandywine Health Foundation, applauded the turnout, expressed gratitude for the engagement of the participants and sought reactions to the program.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Frances Sheehan, who heads the Brandywine Health Foundation, chats with participants after the program.<\/p><\/div>\n

Regina Horton Lewis, executive director of Chester County Community Dental, elicited loud applause when she suggested that by harnessing the collective power\u00a0 of the diverse, dedicated and talented \u00a0people in attendance,\u00a0 \u201cwe can rebuild our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheehan reminded the audience that an online survey will provide additional opportunities for commentary, and she urged participants to pass along the web site to people who could not attend the Vision Caf\u00e9: \u00a0https:\/\/www.surveymonkey.com\/s\/brandywinehealth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have a very bright future if we continue to talk,\u201d Sheehan said.<\/p>\n

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Ideas for improving community’s health shared at Brandywine Health Foundation forum By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times They came, they conversed — and they conquered some hurdles to improving the health of the greater Coatesville community. The din at last night\u2019s well-attended Vision Caf\u00e9 rivaled that of a high-school lunch period \u2013 fitting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[110,656,657,359,341,655,555],"class_list":["post-1953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-brandywine-health-foundation","tag-capacity-for-change","tag-chester-county-community-dental","tag-coatesville-area-senior-high","tag-frances-sheehan","tag-harry-lewis","tag-vision-cafe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}