305493
Building A Grassroots Network of NonTraditional Partners to Deliver Public Health Services
Background
As gaps in health care services widen it has become necessary for public health practitioners to look to nontraditional partners to deliver health initiatives. The American Cancer Society (ACS) assembled community partners to develop a program to educate women on breast cancer screening and early detection. The program would enlist nontraditional partners to implement a program in a community setting to address barriers which may hnder women from accessing mammography services. This need manifested into the formation of COFFEE (Circle of Friends For Education and Early detection)
METHOD
The COFFEE program is modeled after UAB’s Community Health Advisors program. The COFFEE Program enlists volunteers, who complete a 16 training program to offer health education sessions to women in the New Orleans and navigate women to mammography services. The program has as its focus, the Latino and black communities. The program seeks to reach women either through community partners and churches. The program is being implemented in three communites.
It was agreed upon; the program would not be owned by any one agency but directed by the community. As a result, the governing board of the program consist a representatives from partner agencies and cancer survivors
RESULTS
The program has educated over 7,000 women and navigated 400 to mammography services.
CONCLUSION
The COFFEE program is a demonstration of Public Health at its finest; nontraditional partners, such as faith-based community working together with both state and private organizations to deliver health services
Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and preventionDiversity and culture
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related education
Learning Objectives:
Demonstrate the importance of including the community served in the development, design and implementation of a public health program
Discuss the identification of key partners and how to lavage program resources to maximize the program reach and services offered
Keyword(s): Cancer and Women’s Health, Community Health Programs
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have over 17 years of public health practice both in the community and University settings. I served 6 years as the program manager for the Louisiana Cancer Control Program and was the chief developer of our state cancer control plan and I have presented on my work in cancer at many national and local conferences. I served as fiscal manager of federal, state and private funds for all of the programs I managed
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.