Community Development Journal Advance Access originally published online on February 25, 2005
Community Development Journal 2006 41(1):89-103; doi:10.1093/cdj/bsi039
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The community development potential of large health services organizations
Health Policy Institute, Graduate School of Public Health University of Pittsburgh, USA
Address for correspondence: University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA. longest{at}pitt.edu
Large health services organizations routinely support communities through provision of services. However, as these organizations have also become important economic entities, they are increasingly viewed as having significant potential to make additional contributions to community development in a variety of ways. The incentives for large health services organizations to play broader community development roles include the same business advantages that accrue to other organizations that do so. Beyond this, uniquely, health services organizations can more fully fulfill their central health-enhancing purposes through their community development efforts because, ultimately, the health of people is affected by the quality of the communities in which they live.