Allegany Franciscan Ministries’ 2008 Major Grant Program awarded a total of $2,728,000 in Palm Beach, Martin, and St. Lucie counties to support programs and initiatives that increase access to culturally competent healthcare services and improve the overall health status of racially, ethnically and culturally diverse populations in the three-county region.
AIDS Research & Treatment Center of the Treasure Coast, Fort Pierce, FL
Capacity Building Initiative, $130,000
The AIDS Research and Treatment Center of the Treasure Coast provides comprehensive healthcare to HIV & AIDS clients including health education, screening and access to prescription medication. St. Lucie County has the worst rate in Florida of HIV & AIDS infection among African Americans. ARTCTC has relocated the clinic to the heart of a blighted community in the city of Fort Pierce, an area where the population is at the highest risk and where geographically there is a disproportionate burden of the illness. The new clinic space is now equipped with electronic medical records, will soon have an on-site pharmacy and on-site testing/diagnostic laboratory and will rent space to the county health department to better coordinate overall health services in this targeted community. Allegany Franciscan Ministries' grant will provide operating support for two years and support the overall capacity of the agency during its expansion.
Area Agency on Aging of Palm Beach/Treasure Coast Inc., West Palm Beach, FL
Senior Wellness Center, $150,000
The mission of AAA is to advocate, plan and promote independence, dignity, health and well being of all seniors and their caregivers in a manner that embraces the diversity of the communities served. AAA is the largest senior serving organization in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, serving a 5-county area. This grant supports the launch of a Senior Wellness Center in Palm Beach County, which could then be replicated in other counties. The Senior Wellness Center will provide a one stop access menu to a variety of senior services that promote health and wellness of body, mind and spirit. Services will include benefits screening and enrollment assistance. Many of the seniors that need this kind of service the most are Hispanic and African American seniors who face the greatest challenges and barriers to receiving appropriate care. The Wellness Center's Benefits Counselors and Navigators will assist seniors who have low literacy levels, those who speak another language other than English and/or those who have been historically marginalized through systematic racism as they seek access to health and human services. The Center will be co-located within the AAA building complex where other senior services are either provided or coordinated. The facility is centrally located in the county and easily accessible by car and public transportation.
Donors Forum of South Florida, Miami, FL
Capacity-Building and General Operating Support, $20,000
Farmworker Coordinating Council of Palm Beach County, Lake Worth, FL
Community Health Access Team (CHAT), $200,000
The Farmworker Coordinating Council is a diverse health and human service agency that addresses barriers to basic needs faced by migrant and seasonal farm workers in Palm Beach County. FWCC continues serving the over 30,000 migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their families in the county. The Community Health Access Team (CHAT) initiative is a pilot designed to increase access to health care services among farmworkers in Palm Beach County by effectively overcoming linguistic, cultural and economic barriers experienced by this underserved and diverse population. CHAT will replicate a successful model among farmworker communities in called Promotores (-as) or Community Health Promoters. This model uses community health educators who are members of the community in which the program is established. Promoters are trained to empower their community, promote health related issues and serve as the first contact for people within their social networks when a health problem is encountered. The CHAT initiative will promote health education within a neighborhood setting that is culturally, ethnically and racially relevant among migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their families.
Florida Community Health Centers, Inc., West Palm Beach, FL
Health Navigators in Martin and St. Lucie Counties, $100,000
Florida Community Health Centers (FCHC) is a non profit community health center with locations in Martin and St. Lucie Counties. Allegany Franciscan Ministries funded a pilot program with FCHC in 2007 to create Health Navigators in the clinic and throughout the community, which increased access to health benefits. This 2008 grant expands the Health Navigator program in the communities of Indiantown, a rural area of mostly immigrant populations in Martin County, and in Fort Pierce, a city in St. Lucie County with a heavy concentration of economically poor Haitian and African American people. The target population for this program is predominantly low-income, uninsured persons who are eligible for health and social service assistance primarily though Florida's State Children Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and Medicaid programs. Health Navigators conduct face-to-face interviews with patients in their language and at their literacy level to enroll them in SCHIP, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Social Security programs. Health Navigators also conduct outreach programs with local community groups as well as faith based organizations to ensure that they reaching the population most in need of health services. Individuals may also obtain a medical home at the FCHC where they can receive prevention and wellness care as well as primary health care.
Friends of St. Lucie County Public Health, Inc., Port St. Lucie, FL
St. Lucie County Health Access Clinic $50,000
The ultimate goal of this initiative is to establish a health care clinic to provide accessible and quality healthcare for uninsured residents in St. Lucie County. The initiative seeks to (1) provide early access to health care for the indigent population: (2) provide early diagnosis and treatment, leading to better prognosis and earlier, less costly treatment; (3) provide preventive education and programs; and (4) reduce instances of non-emergency patients using high cost emergency rooms. The Clinic will be established with the goal of filling the gaps in health care access for the indigent, uninsured and working poor. This grant supports the development of a business plan and setting up the infrastructure for the clinic.
Glades Initiative, Inc., Belle Glade, FL
Culturally & Linguistically Appropriate Services in Palm Beach County, $200,000
The Glades Initiative works to improve and coordinate the health and human services system of care. This grant will allow Glades Initiative to expand their language access program and improve the quality of health and human services by providing training on the federal standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS). These services and training are particularly vital to the nonprofit sector in this diverse environment. Many nonprofit organizations are struggling to address the need for culturally sensitive policies, procedures and practices that will improve access for non-English speaking and/or culturally diverse populations. Glades Initiative is the only agency in Palm Beach County that has been licensed to provide the nationally modeled Bridging the Gap Medical Interpreter's training.
Glades Initiative will work with local health care and human services organizations to provide training in CLAS standards and will continue to prepare and equip medical interpreters.
Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Palm Beach Co., Inc., Delray Beach, FL
Taking to the Streets , $400,000
Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies Coalition (HM/HB) was established in 1986 to reduce the low birth weight rate and infant mortality by assuring access to prenatal care for underserved and uninsured pregnant women. The focus of this initiative is reducing racial disparities in prenatal care access and birth outcomes. Taking it to the Streets is a non-traditional means to improve access to prenatal care and health education for women of color. Depending on the cultural or linguistic need within a targeted community HM/HB will staff a mobile unit with the appropriate personnel to go out into the communities. The mobile unit will be equipped with state of the art technology to make processing benefits enrollment and access to prenatal care easier. Community site visits will be coordinated according to the greatest need (i.e. geographic locations with poorest outcomes) but also according to the most appropriate time that the people may be available in the community. The mobile unit will visit communities where the data suggests that the disparities in access to care are the greatest.
Hospice By The Sea, Inc., Boca Raton, FL
Cultural Competency Training for Home Health Providers $150,000
Hospice by the Sea (HBTS) is a non profit community-based provider of quality hospice, palliative care and home health services. The mission of the organization is to provide skilled medical care and comfort to patients with life-limiting illnesses, and emotional, social, and spiritual support to patients as well as their families. Through this initiative, HBTS will develop an interactive healthcare services model of cultural competency training designed specifically for healthcare providers and volunteers who deliver services to patients and their families in the homes. Unlike the acute care setting, where families leave the cultural comfort of their home and enter a facility, home health providers interact with patients and families within the cultural comfort of their homes, requiring, perhaps, an even greater need for cultural understanding, humility and respect.
Intercultural Family Health Education Center, Inc., West Palm Beach, FL
Strategic and Business Planning, $25,000
Intercultural Family Health Education Center (IFHEC) is a minority run, community based agency whose mission is to address the need for health education programs for minority and disadvantaged populations in the county. IFHEC primarily serves Haitian individuals and families living in Palm Beach County. The main goals of their programs are to establish and/or reinforce good health behaviors, to act as healthcare advocates on behalf of the client, and to assist clients in accessing healthcare through benefits and securing a medical home. This grant provides planning and development funds in order to support the agency in developing a strategic and business plan to direct, manage and monitor programming and ensure sustainability.
Martin County Healthy Start Coalition, Inc., Stuart, FL
Prenatal Outreach Center, $109,000
This grant will continue Allegany Franciscan Ministries' support for a project funded as a pilot in 2007-2008. The project outcomes were exceeded with more African American and Hispanic women accessing culturally appropriate pre-natal care as well as an increase in the number of those women who entered in the first trimester and remained in care. The project established a prenatal outreach center to connect uninsured Hispanic and African American women with prenatal care. In its pilot year, the project successfully addressed the barriers to women entering prenatal care by establishing a Prenatal Outreach Center where women developed a trusting relationship with staff who assisted them in accessing services. The Prenatal Outreach Center is now a primary referral location of the county for all women in need of assistance regarding prenatal and/or women's wellness. This second year of funding will provide additional prenatal outreach, education and coordination of prenatal care access in Martin County. The coalition will continue to seek funding opportunities and strategic alliances to sustain the project.
Martin County Healthy Start Coalition, Inc., Stuart, FL
Involving Dads in Maternal and Prenatal Care, $165,000
In July 2006 the Martin County Healthy Start Coalition created a program component to focus on the lack of male involvement in healthy start programming. The Father & Child Resource Center is the only organization in the county charged with mobilizing resources to deal with this crisis of male absenteeism in maternal health and prenatal care issues. The goals of the initiative are to develop resources that improve the quality and quantity of male involvement with their companion and children, and to increase public awareness about the positive impact that men have on the overall health of pregnant women and babies. This initiative proposes to improve the health status of minority women and children by educating the fathers on the needs, benefits and availability of healthcare for pregnant women and babies. It replicates a successful model in Palm Beach County, targeting men of African American, Hispanic and Mayan communities in Martin County and providing health education about the importance of healthcare for the women and the unborn children.
Migrant Association of South Florida (Caridad Center), Boynton Beach, FL
Clinic Quality Enhancement, $400,000
For nearly 20 years the Caridad Health Clinic (Caridad) has been the largest safety net provider of free medical and dental care to over 5, 000 patients annually who are agricultural workers, laborers, and the underserved. Patients are largely immigrants who are Hispanic and Haitian that come to Caridad because it provides services in a cultural context that is familiar and comfortable for them. This Quality Enhancement initiative is designed to improve and increase the clinic's overall capacity to provide a myriad of safety net health and wellness services. Specifically, the funding will help to expand the capacity of the organization to provide medical and dental care year round to children and adults. Additional staff will make it easier for patients to make appointments, receive vision care and have access to health education targeting the risks and management of diabetes, obesity, and hypertension. Additionally staff will expand outreach activities, reach new at-risk patients and recruit critically needed Haitian volunteers.
Nonprofits First, Inc., Boynton Beach, Florida
Capacity Building Initiative, $50,000
Nonprofits First's mission is to promote quality and accountability in the nonprofit sector. The organization was created to help improve the overall performance of the nonprofit organizations that provide services in Palm Beach County. This is achieved through leadership development, education and training and management services. Nonprofits First is a key resource to support the capacity, management and sustainability of Allegany Franciscan Ministries' nonprofit partners and grantees in Palm Beach County. The focus of this initiative is to build the infrastructure of Nonprofits First in three areas: an improved management information system, communications and marketing, and fund development.
Palm Beach County Medical Society Services, West Palm Beach, FL
Cultural & Linguistic Center of Excellence for Medical Providers, $175,000
Since 2005 Allegany Franciscan Ministries has provided leadership and funding for clinically-focused Cultural Competency Training and Language Access services as part of its strategic work in the Palm Beach region. In 2006, Allegany Franciscan Ministries invested in a pilot project to centralize cultural competency training for medical doctors using both on-line medium and lecture presentation. The goal of the pilot was to equip 100 physicians with up-to-date training in cultural competency. This goal was exceeded as 127 physicians completed the training and received Continuing Medical Education credit (CME's). This initiative will build on the success of the pilot effort, expanding the capacity of the Medical Society to reach more clinical providers through cultural competency training and linguistically appropriate services. The funds will be used to strengthen the overall infrastructure of the Medical Society as well as for the development of a specific focus on cultural competency and linguistically appropriate training for medical providers. Ultimately, this initiative will result in the creation of a Cultural and Linguistic Center of Excellence for Medical Providers. The Center will serve as the single go-to place for clinical providers to receive training in cultural competency, access medically trained interpreters, and receive best practice strategies in caring for culturally and linguistically diverse populations.
Palm Beach County Medical Society Services, West Palm Beach, FL
Covering More People Community Study, $50,000
In 2000 and 2005 a comprehensive assessment of healthcare access in Palm Beach County was conducted. This study revealed large gaps in healthcare access for uninsured and underinsured people. In addition the study made recommendations for system improvement.
In an effort to update the past assessments of the county's uninsured rates, to take a closer look at who are the uninsured (where they work and how they receive care) and to improve strategies to cover more uninsured people, this project commissions an independent survey and in-depth analysis of Palm Beach County's uninsured population. The study will present recommendations to improve the existing systems and possibly create new benefits opportunities through employers.
The Joint Commission, Inc., Oakbrook Terrace, IL
Cultural and Lingusitic Care in Area Hospitals, $184,000
Nowhere is the need for culturally and linguistically appropriate health care more evident than in the state of Florida. The efforts of Palm Beach, St. Lucie, and Martin County hospitals to address the cultural and linguistic needs of their increasingly diverse populations have not been systematically tracked. Without a baseline assessment of services currently provided in these hospitals, the success of existing and future initiatives to the meet the cultural and linguistic needs of patients cannot be measured. In early 2007, the Joint Commission, in a partnership with the California Endowment, released a study of cultural and linguistic competency in U.S. hospitals. This grant provides for a similar assessment of hospitals in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie Counties to establish baselines of cultural and linguistic competence in area hospitals. Such a study could also lead to recommendations to improve the quality of culturally and linguistically appropriate health services in this region. The results of this study and other scientific research conducted by the Joint Commission will hopefully promote more cultural competency standardization in national healthcare accreditation.
The Whole Child Connection, Inc., Stuart, FL
Navigation Services, $60,000
The Whole Child Connection (WCC) is a new organization in Martin County whose mission is to improve access to health and human services for under-served children and families. Whole Child Connection was formed out of a community collaboration and was incubated in the Children's Services Council of Martin County. Using community health advocates, WCC connects families to a continuum of health and human services with the assistance of a user-friendly website. By completing a simple, confidential online profile, families gain access to local services that they may need to enhance their quality of life. Families can access information regarding healthcare, insurance and other social services including, housing, child care, school readiness, special need programs, parenting education and so much more. Because not all families have access to computers, not all families are mobile and literacy or language barriers may challenge some families, the WCC Advocates are available to assist those families by phone or in person. Advocates are equipped with laptops so that they can assist a family in almost any setting. All WCC Advocates are bi-lingual and have been trained to provide services in a culturally competent manner, which enhances their ability to assist those families that are often under-served. This grant will provide general support of WCC's navigation services, as well as assist with efforts to strengthen its infrastructure and build its capacity.
Tykes and Teens, Inc., Stuart, Florida
Martin & St. Lucie County Cultural Competency Training, $110,000
The Martin and St. Lucie Cultural Competency Collaborative was launched as a pilot with funding by Allegany Franciscan Ministries, and has provided cultural competency training to more than 500 members of 75 health and human service social agencies and clinical health care organizations within the Martin and St. Lucie County communities. The program has also provided a community assessment component to evaluate the level of understanding and incorporation of cultural competency within the identified health and human services organizations. A train the trainer program was conducted to create a cadre of trainers who can sustain the training initiative at a lower cost of support to the community. Advanced cultural competency training has been provided for specific work areas to include personnel, community organization and effective communication through an interpreter. A 40-hour training has also been implemented to certify interpreters on the art of professional medical interpretation. With Allegany Franciscan Ministries' continued support for this third year, the initiative can maintain the current level of training and continue forward with plans to build the capacity of a new organization.
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