The Central Nebraska Area Health Education Center (CN-AHEC) has been awarded a $150,000 planning grant to improve the health-care of Latinos in six counties in central Nebraska.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) awarded the grant as part of its program, “Hablamos Juntos: Improving Patient-Provider Communication for Latinos.” The CN-AHEC was established in 2001 as part of a federal grant awarded to the Rural Health Education Network at UNMC.
“We’re extremely excited to receive this award, and we look forward to working with hospitals and medical providers in the six counties in taking steps to provide better health care for the Latino population in central Nebraska,” said Sarah Cunningham, Ph.D., executive director of the CN-AHEC and principal investigator for the grant.
The partnership of the hospitals and medical clinics in the six counties is called the Central Nebraska Latino Health Partners. Its members, grouped by county, include:
- Adams County: Mary Lanning Hospital; Medical Office Management; South Central Health Alliance;
- Buffalo County: Good Samaritan Health Systems; Kearney Clinic; Buffalo County Community Health Partners;
- Colfax County: Alegent Health Memorial Hospital; Alegent Health-
Schuyler Clinic;
- Dawson County: Tri-County Hospital; Plum Creek Medical Group;
- Hall County: St. Francis Medical Center; Third City Community Clinic;
Family Practice of Grand Island; Central District Health Department;
- Platte County: Columbus Community Hospital, Clinica Santa Marianita; East Central District Health Department;
- Educational Partners: Central Community College; Central Nebraska
Interpreter’s Group; University of Nebraska Medical Center; NAF/
Multicultural Human Development Corporation
Projects in progress
Already, these partners have collaborated on several Latino-related projects, including interpreter training programs, a Spanish-language car safety seat technician training and programs for Latino diabetes care and smoking cessation.
“The Latino population has become such a significant sector of the health-consuming public in central Nebraska that many of the entities have initiated projects in isolation,” said Marie de Martinez, president of the CN-AHEC board of directors and vice president of business development and strategic planning for St. Francis Medical Center. “This project will encourage a development of a consistent interpretation and translation service that people who speak Spanish as a primary language can count on. Our commitment is to provide information in Spanish so that there are no detectable differences in the information that the Latino population receives and the services that they are provided. We are delighted that the CN-AHEC will lead the charge.”
A Latino communication plan
Dr. Cunningham said that if the partners and the CN-AHEC can demonstrate their plans can come to fruition, they will be eligible for a two-year, $850,000 RWJF grant that will be awarded in June 2003. This grant would be used to implement the Latino communication improvements.
These would take place in three areas:
- Interpretation services. The partners will train Spanish-speaking medical interpreters for Latino patients. This would include setting up a system where the partners could share the medical interpreters at some levels.
- Translation of patient education materials. The goal is to make all educational materials bilingual, improving the access of health-care information to Latino populations.
- Examining signage at key facilities in the six counties. Signage would be examined to determine if it is appropriate for non-English speaking people.
Impacting health care
“These partners are in a unique position to impact the delivery of health care to entire counties,” said Kristine McVea, M.D., an associate professor of family medicine at UNMC and medical community liaison for the RWJF grant. “Based on their previous networking experience, they are ready to move forward as a group to build upon existing strengths to better serve the Latino community.”
Rising to the top
Drs. Cunningham and McVea noted that The RWJF Hablamos Juntos (translated as “we speak together”) program is highly competitive. This year’s grantees were selected out of an original pool of 178 applications. Of those, 23 were invited to submit full proposals, and only 10 were awarded Hablamos Juntos planning grants.
To be selected, the CN-AHEC and the partners needed to show the ability to develop effective and affordable interventions; an understanding of the importance of language services to business success in the Latino market; and the ability to work effectively with business and community leaders who understand the Spanish-speaking consumer.
“Certainly, many people put in a great deal of time and effort into making this grant proposal successful,” Dr. Cunningham said. “Now, we need to keep that effort moving to make health-care access better for all citizens in central Nebraska.”