Crossing borders: Reducing health disparities by linking national organizations and local affiliates with diverse and medically underserved communities

This presentation describes the development, evolution and evaluation of a five-year national model health promotion initiative, sponsored by the National Parkinson Foundation (NPF). As a neurodegenerative disorder expected to increase in the next 25 years, Parkinson disease (PD) crosses racial, ethnic, geographic and socio-economic divides, with thousands in medically underserved regions unable to access needed information or quality Parkinson care. Through its Community Partners for Parkinson Care (CPP) program, NPF sought to reduce documented health disparities in PD by educating diverse, rural and urban communities about PD and available resources. NPF trained its Center coordinators in cultural competence and community outreach strategies, and piloted CPP in six urban and rural regions of the U. S., where coalitions of NPF coordinators and community members jointly developed outreach plans for their communities. In five years, CPP grew to 25 CPP sites nationally and, in the spirit of partnership and inclusivity, now also partners with national organizations like the Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) whose infrastructure reaches medically underserved communities. CPP sites are partnering with state and local AHECs in their region. Evaluation has demonstrated that CPP has reached well over a million health care consumers and providers in underserved communities. CPP community-based coalitions developed a multi-lingual toolkit, now being expanded to include additional resources. The CPP program has crossed multiple borders to find synergy between national organizations and their local affiliates; between white, middle class providers and diverse communities and between major national organizations, each seeking to reach the underserved.