Community Health Works Projects At-A-Glance 2005-2007
Active Projects
• Metropolitan Health Academies
• Health and Social Justice Course
• YES WE CAN Asthma Toolkit
• San Francisco Bay Area Regional Health Occupations
Resource Center(RHORC)
• Welcome Back: International Health Worker Assistance Center
• Reimbursement Reform/Saving Lives and Money through
Children's
Asthma Care Management
Past Projects
• Community Health Worker Certificate
• Drug and Alcohol Studies Certificate
• Health Care Interpreter Certificate
• HIV/STD Prevention Education Certificate
• YES WE CAN Children's Asthma Care Module
Detail Description of Projects
Active Projects
The Metropolitan Health Academies:
A National Model Undergraduate Program in Community Health
San Francisco State and City College of San Francisco were recently awarded a
prestigious US Department of Education (FIPSE) grant to initiate a national model
undergraduate program in community health. The project will develop an
innovative curriculum for the first two years of college, and seed a network
of Metropolitan Health Academies at college campuses across California and
the nation. The pilot Academy courses will start at SFSU and City College of San
Francisco (CCSF) in fall 2008. The curriculum will have two variants, one for
community-college-to-university transfer, and another for the first two years at a
four-year university.
The purpose of the Academies is to spark a passion by diverse urban students to
pursue a lifetime of work in community health, and to provide them with strong
preparation for success in college. Students will be prepared to pursue careers in
community and public health. Their studies will be informed by a "big picture" view
of burning issues in urban community health, and strong skills in health advocacy.
Combining Innovation in Community Health and Undergraduate Pedagogy
A New View of Health: The foundation of the Academies' curriculum is a new
paradigm about the most important ways to improve community health. Twenty years
of research indicates that the most important determinants of health are not individual
medical interventions or lifestyle choices, but rather healthy community conditions.
To change these requires community-level interventions and social change.
Innovative curriculum and pedagogy: The program will be built around carefully
sequenced competencies , general education courses infused with compelling
community health content , learning communities , and the transfer of 100%
of coursework from community college to university.
For more information:
Metropolitan Health Academies PDF
Health & Social Justice: Burning Issues, Taking Action
A three unit course for SF State University and City College of San Francisco Students
available during Spring semester
Spring 2007
Mondays 4pm-7pm, SFSU Humanities Bldg 207
(please consult SFSU/CCSF Class Schedules for current dates and times)
Through cutting edge documentary films and dialogs with community health leaders, this
course will take you "behind the headlines" on hot-button issues such as the drug war,
tobacco, HIV, reproductive rights, environmental justice, and Hurricane Katrina. We will
investigate the social forces driving spiraling epidemics of cancer, AIDS, and diabetes, and
explore how health outcomes are shaped by racism, class, gender, and power. How are
communities organizing to challenge unhealthy conditions? Hone your critical thinking
skills, and learn to become an effective advocate.
San Francisco State University HED 221 (3 units)
City College of San Francisco Health 221 (3 units)
For syllabus, list of films and additional information:
http://communityhealthworks.org/hsjcourse.html
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
For more information see:
http://www.communityhealthworks.org/yeswecan/setup/setup.html
Download a toolkit order form:
Asthma Tool Kit Order Form PDF
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.
For more information:
http://www.healthoccupations.org/rhorc/4/about.cfm
Welcome Back: International Healthcare Worker Assistance Center
Internationally trained health professionals here in the US must struggle through a
maze of obstacles to be able to practice their professions.
Internationally trained health professionals here in the U.S. must struggle through a
maze of obstacles to be able to practice their professions. Yet, many community based
clinics and health programs cannot find staff who are culturally competent to work with
the communities they serve. Welcome Back is a program designed to offer counseling
and educational programs to internationally trained health professionals already in the
U.S., who are un- or underemployed in health services. Credentials and jobs: Our first
goal is to help these health professionals obtain licenses, credentials, orientation, and
to find jobs in the U.S. health system. The San Francisco Welcome Back Center is the
lead site of the Welcome Back Initiative with additional sites in Los Angeles, San Diego,
and Boston.
Funders: The California Endowment, The California Wellness Foundation, Kaiser Permanente,
The San Francisco Foundation
For more information:
http://www.e-welcomeback.org
"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 currant 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 more information:
http://www.communityhealthworks.org/CACM
For a reimbursement form:
Saving Lives and Money through Children's Asthma Care Management (PDF)
Past Projects
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 of 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
For more information:
http://www.ccsf.edu/Departments/Health_Science/chw/chw.htm
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.
For more information:
http://www.ccsf.edu/Departments/Health_Education_and_Community_Health_Studies/drug alcohol/DAC Certificate.htm
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.
For more information:
http://www.ccsf.edu/Departments/Health_Education_and_Community_Health_Studies/new hci/hci-prog/interp.html
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.
For more information:
http://www.ccsf.edu/Services/Vocational_Education/health/hiv.html
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
For more information:
http://www.communityhealthworks.org/yeswecan