Thursday, February 8th 2018, was the final meeting for the pilot ‘Neighborhood Based Approach’ (‘Wijkbrede Aanpak’) at the Stadionbuurt / District of Zuid (South) in Amsterdam. ‘Neighborhood Based Approach’ is a training program that helps local Zorg & Welzijn (health and welfare) professionals work together with local residents in order to set the right health and welfare priorities based on the specific needs of their own community. The program was developed by ahti in collaboration with the City of Amsterdam.

Nine participants (three neighborhood residents and six professionals) formulated a joint vision for local health and welfare. This resulted in two plans based on their own experience, local data and priorities in the community:

• helping vulnerable elderly, who have difficulty leaving the house, withdraw money from the atm;
• strengthening skills of key persons in the community so they can recognize vulnerable eldery and support them to find help for their need questions.

Decisions based on facts

By looking at demographic data as well as data on available facilities in the neighborhood, participants could combine facts with their personal and professional experience. “The program resulted in many new insights and collaborations,” says one of the participating health professionals. “It was good that we paid a lot of attention to data,” adds one of the residents, “it is important to have that as part of the process.”

Key to these plans is that there is wide support in the neighborhood and at the city district level for this approach. The District will support the project teams in executing the plans. Goal is to tailor citywide health care policy on a local level.

Together with the city, ahti is exploring further implementation of this approach in other neighborhoods in Amsterdam.

For more information: Guus ten Asbroek, Senior Program Manager