Betances Health Unit, Inc

Located on Manhattan's Lower East side, Betances Health Unit works to promote the health and well-being of its under-served and ethnically diverse community. Consumers served by Betances' include Latinos, Chinese, and African-American populations. Betances offers both traditional primary/preventative medical care services and alternative and complementary services such as acupuncture, nutritional counseling, massage therapy, and herbal therapies. Health programs at Betances include adult care, pediatric care, women's care, senior care, HIV/AIDS care, physical and occupational therapy, health outreach, and behavioral health and social services.
Founded on the principle that quality and affordable health care is a basic right for all, Betances has integrated quality and culturally sensitive services to address the health needs and cultural values of its patients. Services such as acupuncture, nutritional intervention, and traditional Chinese medicine reflect the organization's responsiveness and flexibility. Recognizing the importance of the indigenous knowledge of providers, Betances actively recruits to maintain diversity among its staff. Currently, the staff is compromised of approximately 75 multilingual members, who are representative of the local community's demographics. All staff are trained to be sensitive to the diverse health care beliefs and practices of both patients and their fellow colleagues. Betances uses systemic quality assurance and assessment tools to ensure its delivery of cultural competent care. In 2000, Betances Health Unit was recognized in the Health Resources and Services Administration's Cultural Competence Works competition as a Nominated Program of Note.

Community Health of South Dade, Inc

Community Health of South Dade, Inc (CHI) was chartered for services in the South Miami-Dade community in 1971. CHI currently operates six community health centers, a behavioral health center, numerous outreach groups, and school health programs. All sites offer comprehensive primary care to patients of all ages and additional specialty services are provided at the main health center including comprehensive behavioral health care services. CHI works to deliver readily accessible, quality health care services to the people of South Miami-Dade in a way that assures their dignity and respect. In 1998, CHI served approximately 28,000 patients. In the same year, CHI's diverse patient population included more than 8,000 migrant and seasonal farm workers.
CHI recently received re-accreditation by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations for primary and behavioral health care with outstanding ratings. The culturally diverse and linguistically capable staff represents more than 30 different cultures. CHI is committed to celebrating cultural diversity and is governed by a community board of directors. In 2000, CHI was recognized in the Health Resources and Services Administration's Cultural Competence Works competition as a Nominated Program of Note.

International Community Health Services

International Community Health Services (ICHS) is a community-based health care center committed to providing culturally sensitive, accessible, affordable primary care and dental services to Asian and Pacific Islanders and other members of the community. ICHS provides education, prevention, and early intervention services for all ages. Services range from infant care, child immunization, family planning, nutrition, and social and mental health services which can be accessed at ICHS' two primary sites, the International District Clinic and the Holly Park Clinic. Recognizing that their patient population includes many immigrant and refugee populations, ICHS has incorporated many non-Western services, such as acupuncture and use of traditional medicines, to better serve their patients, while also introducing Western medicines and health care services.

To ensure cultural and linguistically appropriate care, ICHS provides on-site interpretation in 15 languages, with contractual arrangements for less requested languages. Additionally, the ICHS telephone system provides information and an introductory menu in various languages. An on-site pharmacy and laboratory services has also been incorporated to ensure continuity of care and facilitate timely delivery of needed care. Patient data is also tracked to observe any trends or emerging health issues with regard to various groups. ICHS also provides translated materials in different formats to address the different communication needs of their patient population.

Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center

Kaiser Permanente is the nation's largest non-profit health maintenance organization (HMO). Kaiser Permanente serves the health care needs of 8.6 million voluntarily-enrolled members in 17 states and the District of Columbia. Today, it encompasses Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc.; Kaiser Foundation Hospitals; and the Permanente Medical Groups, as well as alliances with Group Health Cooperative in Washington and Community Health Plan in New York. Nationwide they include more than 90,000 technical, administrative, and clerical employees and 10,000 physicians representing all specialties. In 1991, Kaiser Permanente established The National Diversity Council to promote, support, and assist in coordinating the key elements of the Programs' diversity strategy to:

1. Grow the membership through effective market segmentation approaches that target specific populations which are the fastest growing segments of our society;
2. Provide culturally competent medical care and culturally appropriate service to improve the health and satisfaction of Kaiser's increasingly diverse membership;
3. Enhance the diversity, cultural competence, skill, and performance of Kaiser's workforce.

In 1999 under the Diversity Council, Kaiser Permanente formed the National Institute for Culturally Competent Care (ICCC). The Institute, through the establishment of Centers for Culturally Competent Care, enables Kaiser Permanente physicians and health care professionals to better respond to the needs of different member populations in the service area. The ICCC's longer-term goal is to develop cultural competence expertise in each major population group represented in the Program's membership. The keystone of ICCC's work will be Centers of Culturally Competent Care located throughout Kaiser Permanente. These Centers will lead the development and refinement of the Program's expertise in the research, treatment, disease management, and care outcomes of specific populations. Each Center will decide on areas of focus, based on the needs in their own community. Kaiser awards the R.J Erickson Diversity Achievement Award to recognize medical centers making strides in cultural competence.

Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center was the year 2000 recipient of the R.J. Erickson Diversity Achievement Award. Among the Center's achievements is the four-year-old Multicultural Services Department, which has on-call and full-time interpreters and translation services in 12 different languages and dialects. This department provided language services to members in 37 languages and dialects in 1999. Staff interpreters are available 24 hours and 7 days a week. The Center also has four cultural, or disease specific service modules: Chinese, Spanish, African-American and HIV. Both the Chinese and Spanish language specific modules provide bilingual/bicultural primary care, behavioral health care, and pharmacy services. The Chinese Module alone served 24,000 patients in 2000. Additionally, Kaiser Permanente provides education and training both to new hires, and existing staff to enhance their cultural and linguistic skills.

Multnomah County Health Department

The Multnomah County Health Department (MCHD) seeks to ensure access to quality health care, promote the health of all of its county residents, and protect the health of the people of Multnomah County. The clinical health services of MCHD serves a diverse population of more than 41,000, which includes a number of refugee groups ranging from Afghans to Ethiopians to Cambodians. MCHD provides medical and dental services at seven primary care clinics in addition to providing services at jails, schools, and in the homes of high-risk families. MCHD values the diversity of individuals and communities and believes in partnerships as a vehicle for improving the health of its community by emphasizing prevention, health promotion and early intervention.

To facilitate the delivery of cultural competent care, MCHD has aligned their interim goals for 2001-2003 with their commitment to provide culturally competent care. As such, MCHD has incorporated a range of cultural competent health care activities into its daily operations. A Community Health Council, which includes both community members and representatives from the local health agencies, serves as a policy informing and community participatory link to the health department. Health programs are tailored to the cultural needs and constraints of the patients. Internal advisory groups such as the Diversity and Quality Teams or "teams of influence" develop and implement culturally competent services as well as provide a mechanism for internal organizational accountability. All new employees undergo basic and continued diversity and cultural competence training. A comprehensive language proficiency test is given for all interpreters. In 2000, MCHD received an Award of Excellence in the Health Resources and Services Administration's Cultural Competence Works competition.

South Cove Community Health Center

South Cove Community Health Center (SCCHC) is dedicated to improving the health and well being of the Asian American community in Massachusetts, with a special focus on the medically underserved. This mission is accomplished by providing high quality community based health care and health promotion programs that are linguistically and culturally accessible for these populations. SCCHC provides primary health care, specialty health, and social services to a diverse Asian community in more than 30 cities and towns in Greater Boston, and works in collaboration with a wide range of agencies, including mental health agencies, shelters, and churches.

SCCHC offers services in the seven Asian languages. All Client assessment and care planning is done in the patient's primary language. Most clinic staff members are bilingual Asian immigrants and all interpreters undergo interpreter training for medical staff at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Through its Department of Community Health Services, SCCHC provides intensive, bilingual/bicultural outreach and community health education to bring Asian adults into care and to teach the importance of preventative care services. The Center has participated in multiple Research Projects related to the Asian community including Hepatitis B, Tuberculosis and diabetes studies. In 2000, SCCHC received an Award of Excellence in the Health Resources and Services Administration's Cultural Competence Works competition.

Sunset Park Family Health Center Network of Lutheran Medical Center

Sunset Park Family Health Center Network of Lutheran Medical Center provides community residents with comprehensive primary health care and education services which are culturally appropriate, accessible and of the highest quality. The Network offers a diverse array of community-based programs such as day care centers, adult educational opportunities, family literacy programs and senior programs. The Family Health Center Network also offers mental health services, alcohol and substance abuse treatment to the Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, Park Slope, Red Hook, Crown-Heights, East Flatbush and Bedford Stuyvesant communities. School health services provided by Sunset Park physicians are available at many local schools. The Family Health Network is one of the largest and most comprehensive Federally-Qualified Health Centers in the country. In 2002 the Network will generate over 550,000 ambulatory care visits to more than 82,000 medical and dental patients.
The Network is a national model for the delivery of culturally competent health and community-based services to an ethnically diverse community. The Cultural Access Task Force, whose members include key administrative staff, clinical leadership and experts on cultural issues from the Network and hospital staff, evaluates institutional needs, develops policy and directs the development of new activities in the areas of cultural and linguistic competence. A full-time Cultural Initiatives Coordinator coordinates activities of the Task Force, and provides expertise and leadership in implementing its directives. Sunset Park has received multiple cultural competence awards including the Health Resources and Services Administration's Regional Administrator's Award for Increasing Access and Reducing Health Disparities in 2001 and the Award of Excellence in HRSA's Cultural Competence Works competition in 2000.