272980 Applications from Cuba: MEDICC's Community Partnerships for Health Equity – Alameda County Portals

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 : 8:50 AM - 9:10 AM

Kimi Watkins-Tartt , Community Health Services, Alameda County Public Health Department, Oakland, CA
Despite the advances in the care and treatment of many chronic health conditions, access to care remains a major hurdle. With the impending implementation of health care reform, thousands of previously uninsured individuals in Alameda County will have health coverage. But without a significant expansion of access points, many will find themselves still outside the health system. Between 2008 and 2010 the Alameda County Public Health Department participated in the Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba (MEDICC)'s Community Partnerships for Health Equity Program in order to identify innovative approaches to preventing and treating chronic disease. During this three-year period, public health staff traveled to Cuba to study its health system with the goal of identifying approaches that might be replicated here. Over the three year period ACPHD staff, along with over 30 community health professionals, examined a variety of strategies that comprise the health system in Cuba. Those strategies included community capacity building; health linkages to neighborhood living conditions/socio-ecological approach and non-traditional partnership; neighborhood-based access points and comprehensive health promotion.

As part of this panel, ACPHD will share with participants its efforts to expand access to care through the creation of community-based partnerships and health portals in schools, neighborhoods and fire stations.

Learning Areas:
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Describe the models of portals being implemented in Alameda County.

Keywords: Community-Based Partnership, Chronic Diseases

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I direct the Community Health Services Division of the Alameda County Public Health Department. I have over 20 years experience overseeing a wide range of public health programs designed to serve vulnerable populations – low income persons, communities of color, homeless people, urban males and youth. These programs cover the areas of primary care, violence prevention, chronic disease prevention and treatment, oral health, alcohol and drug prevention and mental health.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.