Community Health Works Past Projects At-A-Glance


  • YES WE CAN Asthma Toolkit
  • YES WE CAN Children's Asthma Care Module
  • San Francisco Bay Area Regional Health Occupations Resource Center(RHORC)
  • Reimbursement Reform
  • Community Health Worker Certificate
  • Drug and Alcohol Studies Certificate
  • Health Care Interpreter Certificate
  • HIV/STD Prevention Education Certificate

 


Yes We Can Asthma Toolkit

No Longer Available


Everything you need to set up a medical/social team program for prevention-oriented children's asthma care

 

All the tools and training materials needed to start a best practice asthma management program in a community health center or public health clinic (2003).

 

    * YWC Program Implementation Manual

    * YWC Clinical Care Manager Manual

    * YWC Community Health Worker Manual

    * Step-by-step care pathways and protocols

    * Additional tools and materials

 

YWC Toolkit Funders:

The California Endowment, Kaiser Permanente, Regional Health

Occupations Resource Center



YES We CAN Children's Asthma Care Module

Childhood asthma is:

  • 95% manageable with prevention oriented care
  • the leading chronic disease causing hospitalization for children
  • considered by federal health officials to be at epidemic levels.

 

Asthma hospitalization rates are up to 21 times higher in low-income communities of color than in affluent white communities only blocks away. This makes asthma an important front in the effort to eliminate health disparities. The YES WE CAN Project has developed a medical/social model for asthma and other chronic diseases. This model relies on an

interdisciplinary community health team: clinician, clinical care coordinator, community health worker, and families/patients. We aim to scale up high quality healthcare that is culturally competent. We emphasize prevention, self-care and the provision of enabling services.

 

Funders: Kaiser Permanente, The California Endowment, the California Children and Families Commission, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and members of the partnership

 


San Francisco Bay Area Regional Health Occupations Resource Center (RHORC)

Community College-Employer Partnerships for California's Health

 

The San Francisco Interior Bay Area RHORC, hosted by City College of San Francisco, in partnership with the Health Education Department of San Francisco State University, develops creative ways to meet California's emerging heath care workforce training and educational needs by establishing partnerships between public and private sector health care employers, county agencies, community colleges and veteran health workers.

 

Because health care is increasingly moving out of hospitals into home and community settings, a particular focus of our RHORC is to strengthen education and training programs for a rapidly-growing cluster of some 40 first-level community-based health occupations, particularly those working in primary medical care settings for traditionally medically uninsured persons. Because California is the most diverse state in the United States, the

industry requires health workers who have experience and language skills to best serve the emerging new majority in our state.

 

The objectives of our RHORC are to provide:


  • a mechanism for networking and training partnerships between community colleges and regional health care employers
  • technical assistance to community colleges in the development of training programs for first-level community health occupations.

 


Reimbursement Reform

"Our experience indicates that good Asthma Care Management can prevent up to 99% of children's asthma hospitalizations, and 95% of emergency visits. In children's asthma it works better for everyone - and even costs less - to do the right thing, rather than do the wrong thing over and over and over again."

    -- Guillermo Mendoza, MD, Chief, Dept of Allergy, Kaiser Permanente Napa-Solano

 

The current approach towards asthma care for children focuses on diagnosis, treatment, and brief procedures. In contrast, Asthma Care Management allows for a team approach with a broader role for non-clinicians. The team handles routine aspects of chronic care and follow-up and has time for more family education to promote self-management.

 

For a reimbursement form:

Saving Lives and Money through Children's Asthma Care Management (PDF)


 

Community Health Worker Certificate at City College of San Francisco

 

"...one of the fifteen most innovative and promising health training programs

 in the US."

    -- Annie E. Casey Foundation

 

CHWs bridge the gap between a complex, changing healthcare system and diverse low-income communities. Our CHW curriculum teaches core competencies common to 70 community health job titles. We use a unique pedagogy that combines performance-based and popular education. This grounds the mastery of skills in discussion of the students' own experiences and study of the large social-economic determinants of health. Our CHW program was the first college credit CHW certificate in the U.S. Four out of five graduates over eight years have been from low-income communities of color. A post-program survey showed that 100% of graduates had gone on to work in medically underserved communities.

 

For more information: contact Alma Avila (415) 452-7481

 

Funders:

U.S. Department of Education, Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE), and Bernard Osher Family Foundation


 

Drug and Alcohol Studies Certificate at City College of San Francisco

 

Addiction to drugs including alcohol is the number one preventable health

problem in the U.S.

 

In 2000, California voters passed Proposition 36 by an overwhelming 61% majority, insisting that drug addiction should be addressed through treatment programs rather than spiraling imprisonment.

 

In this spirit, our program takes a public health approach to drug addiction. We emphasize treatment, education, and employment as the first-line response to the epidemic. This program prepares students to become counselors in addiction prevention and treatment. It is credentialed by the California Association of Drug and Alcohol Educators (CAADE), and carries 38.5 units of college credit at CCSF.

 

We are the first Drug and Alcohol Certificate in California to focus primarily on the needs and assets of diverse and low-income urban communities.

 

Developed in partnership with the San Francisco Department of Public Health (Community Substance Abuse Services), as part of its commitment to providing drug treatment on demand.


 

Health Care Interpreter Certificate at City College of San Francisco

 

This 2-semester program teaches bilingual/bicultural students to serve as highly skilled, qualified interpreters for limited-English patients, ensuring culturally and linguistically appropriate care for all. Carries 15 college units.

 

HIV/STD Prevention Education Certificate at City College of San Francisco

 

This certificate prepares HIV/STD educators, and offers three areas of specialization: outreach, case management, and group facilitation. Carries nine college units.